I miss Ronald Reagan...

[Mike.357]

I believe his playing the part of George Gipp and Death Valley Days cemented him in as an American icon.  

 

He took a lot of naps, I like a lot of naps too. 

[Guest Grout]

what is it exactly that Ronnie Raygun did to make himself so iconic?

Don't know about iconic but he signed a law in 86 banning the ownership of newly manufactured automatic firearms (creating the sky high prices today) and he also kick started the amnesty movement for illegals in Cal.Soon after that is when the illegals started moving into other parts of the U.S.Those 2 actions alone soured me on the other "good deeds" he gets credit for.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

If you go on the premise that the President during that term caused that action to happen, you are right,

but that is also something much more complicated than one man. The Senate and House were the cause,

or the originators of that situation, and, to get something Reagan wanted, he had to give that up. Something

every U.S. President has had to do. He was shoehorned into a lot of stuff because he had a hostile Congress

for I believe six years, and then only had a Republican Senate for two. I'm not playing wiki, so I may be wrong.

 

I'm sure the experts on wiki will correct this. :D

[RobertNashville]

That is not necessarily the case.  Pointing out the faults of Reagan has nothing to do with the future sucess of Republican candidates. The last two Republican candidates lost because they were weak moderate candidates, nothing more.  If Republicans keep fielding weak candidates then yes, they will continue to lose.

That's only partially true...There were nominated because a plurality of voters during the primary season voted for those two candidates more than they did for the other choices. They lost their respective elections, in part, because because enough self-proclaimed conservatives and libertarians decided they weren't good enough and were willing to let a radical socialist win and then remain in office.

[RobertNashville]

what is it exactly that Ronnie Raygun did to make himself so iconic?

I wonder what he did (or didn't do that you think he should have) that makes you think so little of him?

Do you remember him or is your knowledge of him and that time frame in our country based on what you've read/been taught?

Not trying to pick a fight here...I'm asking because I am really wondering.

[Guest ThePunisher]

Obama has been in a sleep stupor since his Hawaii pot smoking days, and certainly has not awaken from it yet. He's living in a commie dream of utopia.
Reagan helped crumble the communist empire of the Soviet Union, and Obama is helping to crumble America and establish a communist empire. One is an icon of freedom and capitalism, and the other is an icon of communism and destruction of the American Constitution.

[Smith]

Yeah, he was the worst ever. We need more FDR's, Carter's and Obama's. :shake: I swear some of you semi-anarchist would eat your own young if someone said they thought highly of them. :rofl:

Edited April 22, 2013 by Smith

[RobertNashville]

Don't know about iconic but he signed a law in 86 banning the ownership of newly manufactured automatic firearms (creating the sky high prices today) and he also kick started the amnesty movement for illegals in Cal.Soon after that is when the illegals started moving into other parts of the U.S.Those 2 actions alone soured me on the other "good deeds" he gets credit for.

How do you t think that ban on machine guns cam about? Did you look into what other things were contained in that piece of legislation that may have made it very difficult for him to justify a veto? Do you understand or did you just overlook that the NRA had worked for years to relax many of the restrictions of the 1968 Gun Control Act and that the ban on newly manufactured machine guns was a lat amendment that got the law passed out of a Democrat controlled congress? Rightly or wrongly, the NRA went along with the ban to get the bill passed but yeah...I guess since Reagan didn't veto it it's all his fault.

As to amnesty; what exactly are you referring to? What did he do to "kick start" amnesty in California? If you are referring to the 1986 FEDERAL amnesty bill Do you know or not know the totality of the immigration law reforms of that time...the promised made by congress to Regan the congress reneged on? Yeah...I guess when congress lies that's the president's fault too. Edited April 22, 2013 by RobertNashville

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Ronald Reagan was successful because he gave this country a reason to live and fight for right. He dealt in

conceptuality that was based on the Constitution and justice. He came from the other side, also, when he realized

the other side was steering a course to communism and away from individual liberty.

 

It's not hard to see if you paid attention to what he was saying, as opposed to what the media and the liberals

were saying. They fought him tooth and nail, and beat him up, severely, but he got his message across by

going right around them and to the public with his concept of what America once looked like. Revisionist history

aside, he will be remembered as a strong conservative when people wake up and shun the media into reporting

truth. It wouldn't hurt getting a lot of liberal professors out of their ivory towers, also.

 

That's just the way I remember it. It's easy to "faux" trash someone you didn't pay attention to, but there was a 

lot more to him than the Hughes Amendment, and that one was slipped in illegally. I wish the Speaker Pro Tem

was someone more conservative that day. It might have been a recorded vote. Never know. Speakers Tom(Tip)

O'Neal, and James Wright, along with a liberal House and Senate was where the damage happened.

[dlm37015]

well he beat the heck out of what we have now

[Guest MAWLJ45]

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?"
                                                             - Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address (1981)

 

 

Sometimes I can't help but think to myself that "people" are just too dumb or too uneducated or too self-absorbed to be able to "handle" the burden of governing themselves and I fall into the trap of believing that "someone" needs to step in and do if for those people.

 

Ronald Reagan knew better...I think he had a true and abiding faith in America and it its people...that THEY, even if they weren't perfect, would always be better at governing themselves than any government, not matter how well intentioned, could ever be.

 

I miss Ronald Reagan and I miss how he made us feel about America.

 

OP, I am with you, miss him every day. His picture rest on my office wall with his cowboy hat on and a huge grin looking over me. As you stated, "I miss how he made us feel about America". 

[E4 No More]

Mostly, I remember how he let a bunch of fellow Marines, some soldiers, and a couple of sailors get blown to smithereens by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah prick and do nothing about it. I further remember the Marines patrolling Beirut doing so with unloaded weapons. Yeah, he was a saint.

Edited April 23, 2013 by SWJewellTN

[Chucktshoes]

The deification of RR annoys the crap out of me. He wasn't a very good president, he was just less terrible than the ones that followed and a few of the ones prior. We haven't had anything resembling a good president who respected and followed the constitution in deed as well as words since Calvin Coolidge.

[RobertNashville]

Funny how folks who aren't olde enough to actually remember Ronald Reagan seem to be so annoyed/uninspired by him.

I'm SURE they've read his writings, speeches, etc. before coming to their opinion.

[Chucktshoes]

Pop quiz Robert, did government spending grow or shrink under Reagan?

I don't care what the man said, I care about what he DID! It is the same standard I apply to the current gifted orator in chief. Edited April 23, 2013 by Chucktshoes

[Guest ThePunisher]

It was simply amazing what he was able to accomplish as POTUS with a democratic controlled congress. The Libtards are still in denial of how the economy grew with tax cuts as the stimulus for growth as opposed to their false beliefs of tax and spend policies. The Libtards loved to mock Reagan's trickle down economics, and Reagan proved that tax cuts, and giving the working people back more of their hard earned money stimulated economic growth. The Treasury had more revenues as a result of tax cuts than any time in history. But the Libtards have never seen a tax hike that they didn't like, and we're seeing those tax hikes hitting our wallets now with the commie in chief.

[RobertNashville]

Pop quiz Robert, did government spending grow or shrink under Reagan?

I don't care what the man said, I care about what he DID! It is the same standard I apply to the current gifted orator in chief.

Here is a pop quiz for you...

     1. who initiates and controls spending at the federal level?

     2. In the modern age, when was the last time the federal budget decreased in real dollars year over year?

 

Do you not remember...oh wait...you weren't there...that EVERY budget Regan was pronounced dead on arrival at Congress?  Is it really Reagan's fault if the Congress passed a budget he didn't propose???

 

Do you actually know that economic fact of those times or the totality of what was actually going on  or are you just repeating something that someone else said? Here are just a very few...

• From 1982-1989 real family income grew by over 15% according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census
• For the poorest fifth of Americans, real income grew almost 12%
• The total population under the poverty line decreased by 3.8 million people
• The misery index was gone (do you know what that was???)...we experienced sustained economic growth, without inflation, low unemployment and low interest rates while the economy created over 20 Million jobs
• Between 1982 and 1989 real after tax income per person rose by 15.5% and real median income of families before taxes rose 12.5%

Oh and...the Soviet Union collapsed and a lot of his military spending, you know; the spending that liberals and Democrats tried to discredit by labeling it "star wars" is the technology that the military uses today for anti-missile defense and a host of other things.

 

Yeah...he was such a lousy president.

Edited April 23, 2013 by RobertNashville

[RobertNashville]

Mostly, I remember how he let a bunch of fellow Marines, some soldiers, and a couple of sailors get blown to smithereens by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah prick and do nothing about it. I further remember the Marine patrolling Beirut doing so with unloaded weapons. Yeah, he was a saint.

In 1999 I was privledged to spend three weeks in Beirut...walked its streets...stayed with a family that had to patch damage from shelling from the U.S. fleet...that family had a unique take on that time frame...I've been to the Bakaa valley where many of the New Jersey's shells fell.  The U.S. was there to try and keep the peace...Beirut was  BEAUTIFUL city that is only now starting to actually recover.

 

Is it really Regan's fault that Muslim terrorists attacked the barracks (the U.S. barracks was not the only one attacked you you)?

Is it GW Bush's fault that Muslim terrorists attacked the Word Trade Center?

 

I think the issues are a bit too complicated to just blame Reagan or any other single person.

Edited April 23, 2013 by RobertNashville

[Chucktshoes]

Wait, I'm confused.

The increase in total government spending (at twice the rate of growth than Ford &Carter) is the fault of Congress, but the increase in defense spending that you imply led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, well, he gets credit for that.

How does that work exactly? Edited April 23, 2013 by Chucktshoes

[RobertNashville]

Wait, I'm confused.

The increase in total government spending (at twice the rate of growth than Ford &Carter) is the fault of Congress, but the increase in defense spending that you imply led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, well, he gets credit for that.

How does that work exactly?

 

The collapse of the Soviet Union was a LOT more complicated than simply "spending"...why don't you read up on it.

[Chucktshoes]

I wasn't the one implying that Reagan's defense spending brought about its collapse. Maybe I'm not the one who needs to read up on it. ;)

[Mike.357]

I wonder what he did (or didn't do that you think he should have) that makes you think so little of him?

Do you remember him or is your knowledge of him and that time frame in our country based on what you've read/been taught?

Not trying to pick a fight here...I'm asking because I am really wondering.

 

 

Lets see.  He was famous for being an actor,  that impresses me not so much.   He was mediocre in that profession.  Divorced which shows a lack of respect for promises.  Switched parties when it became politically expedient.  Was governor of the wrost state in the union,  NO doubt his years in office affected that dump of a state.  What else....  Ratted out other actors for his suspicions of them being communist, not exactly impressing me with that.  He was racist and against the advancement of civil rights.  His War on Drugs stance.

 

What did he do that was so great?  I am really wondering as well.

[56FordGuy]

Funny how folks who aren't olde enough to actually remember Ronald Reagan seem to be so annoyed/uninspired by him.

I'm SURE they've read his writings, speeches, etc. before coming to their opinion.

 

Strange how folks who do recall Reagan are so enamored with his legacy. 

 

I'm sure they've examined all his writings, speeches, etc with their own critical thinking skills instead of just remembering the flash and pizaz of a skilled politician 'good ole boy' that seemed like a savior at the time. 

Edited April 23, 2013 by 56FordGuy

[Guest 6.8 AR]

The deification of RR annoys the crap out of me. He wasn't a very good president, he was just less terrible than the ones that followed and a few of the ones prior. We haven't had anything resembling a good president who respected and followed the constitution in deed as well as words since Calvin Coolidge.

Don't get me wrong on this, Chuck. I'm not deifying anyone, but compared to who we've had as US Presidents since

Dwight Eisenhower, I'd be happy to have another Reagan, any day of the week. Kennedy, a close second, and he

would be iffy. As far as Reagan being great or not as a president is subjective, but he would be an easy choice.

 

Reagan was the last good choice the Republicans put up.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Strange how folks who do recall Reagan are so enamored with his legacy. 

 

I'm sure they've examined all his writings, speeches, etc with their own critical thinking skills instead of just remembering the flash and pizaz of a skilled politician 'good ole boy' that seemed like a savior at the time. 

Yes, I have.