What would Ronald Reagan think of today’s Republican Party? That’s the question Democrats are trying to get Republicans to ask. On the other hand, what would John Kennedy think of today’s Democratic Party?
It’s really hard to compare eras. Thomas Jefferson was a Democrat, and a big fan of the state government having priority over the national government. Democrats engineered Jim Crow and started the Civil War. Democrats instituted soft socialism under FDR, and expanded it under LBJ.
What would Reagan think today?
Let’s start with what he’d be appalled at. He’d be shocked at the lack of decorum. Reagan was a happy warrior and cut his opponents to ribbons with humor. There is no room today for humor.
Reagan would be upset with the career politicians in both parties. He’d work with them but they weren’t his cup of tea. Career politicians begat career bureaucrats and lobbyists and Reagan loathed them. He was the first politician that really called out how backward Washington DC was. It isn’t the “military-industrial complex” we should be afraid of but the “government-industrial complex”.
Reagan would be pretty angered at politicians who don’t have the spine to cut deficits. He hated tax and spend politicians and Washington is full of them.
Reagan didn’t believe in “common sense” this or that. People like John Cornyn with “common sense” gun control or Democrats with “common sense First Amendment” rights would be swiftly dispatched by Reagan.
Reagan would be outraged at the leadership of institutions in America. Many are outright communist. Reagan hated communism. He’d be upset with organizations like the Southern Law Poverty Center and ADL which have become shells of themselves and dedicated to a racist political agenda.
More importantly, he’d be upset with the way the Chamber of Commerce and business organizations are now more focused on woke politics rather than business.
He’d tell the religious fanatics in the global warming movement to pound sand. He’d do it with a joke using cavemen or dinosaurs as a prop.
Reagan would be outraged at the weaponization of government. The DOJ going after individual citizens and the FBI censoring them would not have any room in his style of government.
Reagan loved the American city and he’d call out the leadership there. He wouldn’t tolerate tent cities and the drug addictions.
People like Fetterman and the male dress wearers in the Biden Administration need not even apply. Reagan would not even pay attention to them. He wouldn’t dignify it.
Like politicians today, Reagan would harness the right medium to talk about it. FDR used the radio to get around newspapers. Reagan used television soundbites and talk radio to get around the mainstream media. Can you imagine Reagan on social media today? He’d crush it.
Reagan would not tolerate the state of today’s military. Mark Milley wouldn’t have lasted as Chief of Staff and the new one recently appointed would be shown the door quickly after showing he prioritized wokeness over readiness.
Reagan liked Teddy Roosevelt’s Big Stick policy. He wasn’t fond of war, though he was made out to be a war monger. He valued readiness and strength. He knew the American economic engine could defeat foes better than a bomb and did it.
Reagan tolerated The Bushes and their wing of the party. He didn’t love them.
Reagan would applaud Governor Abbott’s busing of illegals to sanctuary cities. Reagan believed in a strong border. Without borders, you can’t have a country.
Reagan won 49 out of 50 states in 1984. I don’t think he could do that today. However, Reagan would easily win an election against any Democrat of the last fifty years.
From the linked WSJ hit piece I linked to at the beginning,
David Trulio, chief executive of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, said the 40th president stood for “limited government, individual liberty, economic opportunity, freedom and democracy, peace through strength, and national pride.”
Who in the Republican field exemplifies this the most today?
What's old is new again: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/televised-campaign-address-vital-economy-jobs-growth-and-progress-americans
I have a friend down the street, @biggercapital. He heard Reagan speak. He spoke no English, growing up in French speaking Canada. He heard him speak and he said, "I want that". He got a college degree, an MBA and wound up on Wall Street. He got that.
No one is inspiring today.
Ronald Reagan, who began his political career as a Democrat, was exquisitely prepared to be President plus he was a personable and gentlemanly individual.
He lived an American life on the edge of hard times early in his life from which he raised himself with that old fashioned antidote: hard work.
He was President of the Screen Actors Guild on two occasions (showing he had the respect of his peers and understood unions) and shepherded in the concept of residuals for actors -- a huge financial development.
He was also Governor of California twice and in those days could have run a third time which he declined to do. His actual performance as Governor was not what folks think and is worthy of one's study.
He toured the country giving speeches for General Electric and had an excellent sense of the mood of the country. He did his homework and knew the country.
He starred in that famous movie, Brother Rat, written about the Virginia Military Institute, my alma mater. He married Jane Wyman, another actor in the film.
I say all this because I think politicians -- professional politicians -- are simply unprepared and shallow. Reagan did the work.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com