I have earned the right to commit the GOP sacrilege of suggesting that maybe we stop applying the WWRD – What Would Reagan Do? – test to every Republican candidate and policy. After all, I was there long ago during his rockin’ reign. Incredibly, it has been nearly 44 years since Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. That’s so many years ago that it is about half of Biden’s life. When RR became president, it was the same number of years until 2024 as it was from 1940. And things change over decades. I know it’s heresy, but maybe the specific policies and personality of Ronald Reagan are not perfectly suited today’s political and cultural reality – especially the fake huggy-gooey version of Reagan current pols talk about. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail; well, not everything calls for winning one for the Gipper.
Again, I have unquestionable Reagan credibility. I moved to California in 1972 when he was governor, which was so long ago that people actually moved to California. I remember staying up when Reagan humiliated the loathsome Jimmy Carter on election night 1980, which was so long ago that the color blue designated Republicans. I remember going to Reagan’s last campaign appearance ever in Mission Valley right before the 1984 election, and I still have the Reagan/Bush ’84 shirt. This was so long ago I was still drinking Coors Light. I remember casting my first presidential vote for Reagan the next day, and lording his crushing victory over the commies I was surrounded with at UC San Diego that night. That was so long ago that I believed in the voting system. I partied at the Reagan White House with other Republican congressional interns on July 4, 1986 (he was not there), which was so long ago that the Oval Office did not reek of Ben-Gay and failure. I remember getting commissioned a second lieutenant in 1988, having Reagan’s picture at the top of the leader board in every Army building, and how he sank the Iranian navy because it got uppity, which was so long ago that we still had a military that won wars. And I remember all the post-punk alternative bands I liked hated hated hated Ronnie Ray-Gun (with notable exceptions), which was so long ago that pop music was good.
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Like I said, I got Reagan street cred.
So when I say that 2024 does not call for a Reagan clone, I say so with love and respect. Reagan was the greatest president of the post-war era, a man who took a beaten, exhausted country, found its inner fire, and fanned the flames of magnificence. Let me try to explain to the folks who were too young to remember the 80s and what President Reagan did. Our country was tanking. The Russians were winning. Everything was lame. But he refused to accept any of it. He turned the economy around. He beat the Russians without firing a shot. We were optimistic and patriotic again. You watch an 80s American movie and what comes through? American awesomeness. We kicked booty and had hot girls and generally understood that the hierarchy of humans went #1: Americans, #2: Most Everyone Else, and #3: The Damn Commies.
But some of his policies have proven misguided in retrospect. He got rolled on immigration and amnesty in 1986 – how come all the fakers crowing about how they love Reagan never disclaim that disaster? And he signed onto gun control. But it was a different world then. His policies then do not necessarily apply to what we are facing today. In his time, men were men and women were hot. WWRD about some non-binary furry telling him xis pronouns? Ronnie would commit that lunatic to a mental hospital, except Reagan went along with the libs in closing down the asylums and now you can’t walk through San Francisco without ruining your Keds.
The real greatness of Ronald Reagan was his attitude, his can-so hardcore vibe. There are a lot of GOP pols who babble on about Reagan being hopeful and smiley and all that shining city on a hill stuff. But his optimism was paired with a steel spine. You can’t just mutter hack cliches about empowerment and America is shining city and blah blah blah and be Reagan. Reagan did hard things, tough things. Back in the 60s as California’s governor – oh, how far my state has fallen! – he unleashed the cops and the Guard on dirty hippies and college punks. He famously demanded the microphone he paid for. He fired the striking air traffic controllers. He caused a recession that crushed inflation but cost millions of jobs for a short and painful time. He saw commies threatening Americans on Grenada so he sent in the military to kill them. He rejected the KGB-inspired nuclear freeze nonsense that many of the hacks crying about ex-KGB Colonel Putin today fully supported then.
Reagan was not all smiles and sunshine. He was hot fire, and if the commies had messed with us, that fire would have been hotter than a million suns. And our enemies know it. Ironically, the Russians understood Reagan better than his flaccid faux fans do.
Today, too many GOP establishment types want to twist Reagan’s memory to shame hardcore Republicans out of fighting. They want a GOP of lofty rhetoric and inspiring visions and no action when what we have today is a knife fight and what we need a guy tough enough to bring a gun to it. Every situation does not call for good humor and grace. Sometimes it calls for obnoxious invective and mean tweets. Their Reagan is an amiable loser, because what they want are amiable losers who will not rock the boat. But, of course, Reagan rocked the hell out of the boat, and while he was occasionally amiable, he was no wimp. If they wanted the real Reagan, fine, but they want a caricature of him that guarantees managed decline. Nothing could be more different from the real Ronald Wilson Reagan than that.
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