Even Reagan Was No Ronald Reagan
By Dave Gibson (01/28/08)
Yet again, we find ourselves in the middle of another Presidential election, and yet again candidates are invoking the name of Ronald Reagan. While Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are political lightweights compared to Reagan, upon closer examination the man often referred to as the father of modern conservatism was not the hard-line conservative he is credited as being.
For nearly three decades conservatives have pointed to Ronald Reagan as the very embodiment of their heartfelt ideals. As much as it pains me to say this...Reagan was not nearly as conservative as we would like to remember.
Three key issues for conservatives are Islamic terrorism, illegal immigration, and government spending. An honest look at how Reagan actually dealt with these issues would be a fair assessment of whether or not 'the Gipper' was a true conservative.
In 1982, President Reagan sent U.S. Marines as a peace-keeping force to Beirut after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The Marines were tasked with being policemen during the Lebanese Civil War. In April of 1983, a bomb-laden truck was driven into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans. In the early morning hours of October 23, 1983 the Marine barracks in Beirut was also attacked by a truck bomb, killing 231 Marines. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah was found to be behind both bombings
Reagan vowed to meet all Islamic terrorism with "swift and effective retribution" and promised to stay on in Lebanon. A plan was drawn up to attack the Sheik Abdullah Hezbollah terrorist camp in Baalbek, Lebanon. The site housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards who were responsible for training Hezbollah terrorists. The plan was set to go, but Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger called it off at the last minute somehow to personal doubts over Iran's involvement. Reagan was reportedly furious but never followed through with his plan to hit the terrorist camp and Weinberger kept his job.
Hezbollah threatened more attacks against American forces, unless the Marines left Lebanon by January 1, 1984. Though Reagan initially balked at the threat, he ordered the Marines removed to ships offshore and in February he formally ordered their withdrawal from Lebanon.
In 1984, CIA Beirut Station Chief Bill Buckley was kidnapped by Hezbollah. This was the incident which prompted Reagan to enter into the infamous Iran-Contra affair. Reagan attempted to gain the release of Buckley as well as other Americans being held hostage by the Islamic terrorist group by offering weapons to Iran. Missiles were sent to Iran, but Buckley was never returned. On October 4, 1985 Hezbollah announced that Buckley had been executed. It is believed that after a year of torture and malnourishment, the highly decorated Army officer and CIA operative died of pneumonia.
This weakness in the face of terrorism undoubtedly emboldened Hezbollah which has grown more powerful since the early 1980's and has contributed to the rise of Muslim terrorists throughout the world. Though the bumbling efforts of President Carter may have first hinted to the Islamic world that the U.S. was a paper tiger, President Reagan solidified that notion and gave the green light for Islamic murderers to continue attacking Americans to this day.
In 1986, President Reagan signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act. That document granted amnesty to 4 million illegal aliens. According to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 55 percent of those illegal aliens were Mexican nationals.
The millions of Mexican invaders to whom Reagan granted amnesty stayed in this country, and their presence only served to encourage more Mexicans and Central Americans to enter this nation illegally. Reagan's decision to reward criminals by granting them amnesty was arguably the most disappointing action of his presidency. Last year, the American people came together and rejected amnesty for illegal aliens and rightfully characterized the architects of the legislation as traitors. However, it would be unfair to criticize criminal enablers such as John McCain and Ted Kennedy without recognizing the damage that Reagan caused to our nation of laws.
When Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, the budget deficit was $74 billion and the national debt was $930 billion. By 1988, the budget deficit was $208 billion and the national debt had swelled to an incredible $2.6 trillion. In review of the relatively paltry Carter budget, Reagan declared it to be "out of control." However, he made no such claim of his record peacetime deficits.
Reagan's spending grew the size of government and set the stage for runaway government spending which has now taken our national debt to $9.2 trillion and has seen the U.S. shift from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation. It could be said that Reagan's legacy leading this nation down the path to bankruptcy (to which we have now arrived).
So there you have it. As much as I hate to point out these facts about the man who no doubt restored our own confidence after Watergate and the Carter years, these are the facts. While Reagan was probably the best politician of our lifetime, he was not really a conservative and cannot fairly be given the title as the father of modern conservatism. No, that title should go to Gov. George Wallace. However, Wallace will always be branded a racist by the mainstream media as well as by gutless politicians.
Anyone who has studies Wallace and his policies knows that it was he who ushered in the conservative movement which took hold in the early 1980's. In fact, on occasion Reagan admitted to having been influenced by Wallace and his presidential campaigns.
The fact is that the Republican Party has never been truly conservative. Since the late 1970's they have tried to placate the Christian conservatives by merely giving them lip service, and it now appears that even that is coming to an end.
Though Reagan was no conservative, we as conservatives can take up his call for "rugged individualism" and strike out on our own, leaving behind the RINO Party. In 2008, we do not need another Ronald Reagan...We need another George Wallace!
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