What Would Ronald Reagan Do?

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There is a new statue in the Capitol Rotunda now of Ronald Reagan. It is seven feet tall; larger than life; and pays homage to a great leader of our nation. Click here for details. It is amazing to think that he would be 100 years of age now.
 
It is ironic that the statue was installed during these interesting times that we live in. Do you think Ronald Reagan would be bailing out all of these companies? Do you think he would NOT say something meaningful to China about its civil rights? Do you think he wouldn’t have done something more proactive about the bad actors in the banking industry?
 
We could all learn a lot now about how to develop leadership and help fix our economy from President Ronald Reagan.  Perhaps his statue in the Capitol Rotunda will help inspire our leaders in the Senate and the Congress to do the right things the right way.

16 thoughts on “What Would Ronald Reagan Do?”

  2. Was just discussing with great friend Chris; could not think of other two persons would rather have representing me in the US Senate than Jim Webb and Mark Warner; outside of yourself Ted; in some part wish that item not yet checked on your 101 list; and that “Swim with Sharks” was. I consider my vote cast for Jim Webb couple years ago the most powerful vote I am likely to cast in a public election in my life.
    VA set to lead nation and world into 21st century. Hope we can keep it that way. – j

    ps; in same conversaion with Chris; was corrected in my thinking that Mark Warner was VA Governor; and a Senator and recently on this blog said he was the Governor. That’s embarrassing; now must plug back in; start reading the papers; need to do it anyway cause I have to learn the markets; even if ridiculous; will work to my advantage; likely fantastic time to come to it.
    speaking of markets; totally unserved market in US; prob. world wide; inexpensive lower capacity micro disk storage. a $3.99 512 meg micro disk. random situation created by unrelated factors in the marketplace. Firstly; model of scaling in hardware tech. price holds capacity doubles; value is created for the purchaser; one of the few wonderful market factors for the individual; most pretty crappy; cost to own, operate, and insure a Cadillac Escalade or Ford Excursion for exammple; outrageous. It’s gotta cost 60 70 bucks for a fill up; i digress, back on point because of great hardware tech. model lowest capacity minis at about a gig and lowest price around 10 bucks on sale can get 4 gig mini for about 10-15 bucks; inexpensive, high-capacity mini storage. It’s great; understanding being this is the price point and more storage is better.
    Why is there a market for a $3.99 512 Meg or even $ $2.99 204 meg and egad; maybe even a $2.49 102 meg micro disk; another piece of tech. hardware at work in the market place; the Digital. Photo. Frame. End with that; mainly because have been writing for 4 hours now and seems suspenseful. the question is; does it become less expensive to produce the 204 meg disk than the 1 gig disk; I really hope so; seems like may not though because elemental reason the value added-twice for same price relationship exists; it does not scale backward in production; hmmm… – j

  3. To answer your questions in order, Ted:

    (1) Reagan probably would have done whatever his financial advisors told him to do regarding support of failing enterprises in the current climate. What he knew about economics was literally written on a napkin.

    (2) Reagan might very well say something substantial to China about human rights – though keep in mind that they were not human rights champions back when he was President. But so what if he would? China would respond with a hearty Bronx cheer and go their own way, because they aren’t in the process of falling apart as a society the way the Soviet Union was back in the 80′s. Eloquent statements might be nice, but it wouldn’t get the citizenry anywhere much under current circumstances.

    (3) Why would anyone expect a President Reagan to have been proactive in the current mess when he stood by and let bad actors bring about the S&L crisis of the 80′s? He’d probably have cheered on the speculators — great free market entrepreneurs, they.

  4. I don’t think you could be more wrong Ted. Reagan was a nightmare for me and pretty much everyone I knew or worked with in the community non-profit world of the 80′s… housing issues, hunger, poverty, sexual assault, child welfare…we all suffered from his faulty self serving policies. He still makes me sick.

    Love the Caps though!

  5. Lisa: stop with the nonsense. Even lefties now acknowledge Reagan’s greatness.

  7. Yeah, he’s so great they named an airport and a huge government building after him in his home state. Wait, what, that wasn’t in CA? Reagan’s idea of leadership was to give a speech laced with folksy anecdotes from his film career and then go on vacation. When he wasn’t falling asleep in meetings, he lined the pockets of defense contractors and implemented a ruinous economic plan. Lucky for us, you run the Caps a lot better than Reagan ran the country.

  8. Ted, I respectfully disagree. Reagan was no national hero.

    Quoting Nation writer David Corn,”66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport”:

”The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.

”Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, ‘homeless by choice,’ Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, ‘constructive engagement’ with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy’s astrologer.

”Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig ‘in control,’ silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, ‘mistakes were made.’ “

  9. I could not agree more Ted. Well said. This country needs a leader like him again.

    Oh and please if you are going to argue Ted’s opinion please do not use the NY Times as a source. They have been proven false too many times to be considered a reliable source any longer. Use your own thoughts and not those of an agenda media source.

  10. We recently returned from Berlin, which is now a vibrant, united city and I thought of Reagan frequently during our trip. It is fitting that a piece of the Wall is in the base of his statue.

  11. I would agree with that. Reagan was the man. Obama is not ready for prime time.

  14. Ugh! Sorry Ted. Have to wholeheartedly disagree on this one. The unfettered, unregulated march of the markets coupled with the tremendously reduced tax obligations for business and the wealthy that got us here would have been right up his alley. Enormous & criminal misdeeds within the financial sector and vast flows of people into the ranks of poverty also accompanied his administration. Not surprisingly, doing more the wealthiest still doesn’t help any but the wealthiest. Of course, he could always illegally invade a desperate, developing nation or two. :-/