The Reagan Era: Was It Worth It?

Many people, especially today’s conservatives, continue to talk about the “good old days of the Reagan era”. As a previously registered Republican (I’m now in a 12 step program), I remember how everyone felt about the “Great Communicator” and how the public, myself included had felt that he brought freedom to America when he told the Soviet Premier Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in Berlin. This is the speech that eventually marked the end of the cold war. Wonderful memories all, but the memories are far from the reality.

There is no question that this president left a mark on the state of California as its governor, and on the country as president that will be felt for decades to come. But as usually happens, hindsight is much more accurate when the memories of the past are brought back into a real focus where one can see what the changes have actually resulted in over the long term.

Reagan was one of the early believers that big government and unions were the roots of most ills and government should not be in the business of healthcare and education. As he once said in a speech: “The nine most frightening words I could imagine hearing were: I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. As with President Bush, Governor / President Reagan was also a believer in “privatization”. Due to his changes as the governor of California, in his rush to shrink the state mental hospital population, many patients were forced into private facilities or were released prematurely. Many of the mental patients also went off their medications after being released into the community. The criteria of "dangerousness" for commitment to a mental hospital meant that some patients who needed treatment but were not a danger could not be committed. As a result, patients whose behavior was considered inappropriate by the community in which they lived were increasingly arrested for minor infractions such as loitering and vagrancy. These individuals were thus detained in the criminal justice system rather than the mental health system. This has remained as a problem today in California and most of those individuals with mental problems are also among the 47 million Americans currently without healthcare coverage.

How President Reagan dealt with firing 11,000 members of the Air Traffic Controller’s Union, PATCO in 1981 pretty much says it all regarding his attitude regarding labor or organized unions.

As to education, Ronald Reagan was the governor that broke the over 100 year old tradition of California offering a free college education through the California State University system. I myself was one of the last generation to attend a state university that at the time only cost $60.00 per semester plus the cost of books and materials. Governor Reagan started the “tuition required” program for the state colleges and universities where the annual tuition has grown significantly every year since he left as governor.

To go back to where it all began, one must go all the way back to Thomas Jefferson, as he started the University of Virginia. This was the first totally free American institution that became the standard for free higher education. This had also been the foundation for why the US was for 200 years able to offer the most freedom of personal mobility growth potential in the world. What this means is that America’s meritocracy allowed any American to go from poverty to becoming the President of the United States by making use of the available free educational opportunities, regardless of their parenting or class. Unfortunately, due to the cost of higher US education today, the US is now shown to have the least personal mobility growth potential when compared to all of the other industrialized countries in the world. This lack of mobility will continue as the gap between poverty and wealth in America continues to increase from year to year.

Today, Ireland is a modern example of what can be achieved with a higher education program similar to California’s original free system. Back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, the citizens of Ireland were sending their children to the US to take advantage of the free or low cost American educational systems. The Irish government then decided to replicate within Ireland, their version of the free California University higher education system. Today, Ireland is one of the locations that high-tech businesses have been relocating in order to take advantage of the higher level of education of the local population. Many of those Irish that had come to the US for their education have since relocated to fill key positions back in their home towns in Ireland. A similar story can be told about India and the continued expansion of their free educational system.

The Reagan era is also known for tax cuts. In fact, President Bush has made a point of bragging that his tax cuts are larger than Reagan’s. Actually, George W’s tax cuts aren’t even close when comparing the US economies and markets, then and now on an equal basis. It would be very difficult to equal President Reagan’s cutting of the highest federal tax rate from 70% to 35%. Yes, President Reagan did also get rid of a lot of tax shelters used by the wealthy, and the tax cut did force the rich to look more at investing their resources instead of just taking advantage of tax shelters.

It is also important to understand that cutting taxes does not cause deficits as some political pundits may claim. Deficits are caused by spending more than you take in. And this is where President Reagan and President Bush both have excelled. President Reagan’s spending from 1981 to 1989 was the largest in US history. Federal spending increased 69% during his 2 terms as president. President Reagan spent more in 8 years than all of the US presidents before him all added together. (This includes all the money spent during Roosevelt’s NEW DEAL era including the cost of WW II.) We have since learned that Gorbachev’s wall was not just “torn down”. It was bought and paid for by the US spending more on military and defense than the Soviets could afford to spend in order to keep up. But then, not to be out done, President Bush’s spending has now gone beyond President Reagan’s and he still has over a year left in office with a very expensive war in the Middle East.

You may now understand why I am no longer a registered Republican. Republicans back in Eisenhower and Goldwater’s day used to be for less government. But the last two-term Republican presidents have spent the country into the two largest ever deficits in US history. Even the one term Republican President, George H.W. Bush had to back down on his “read my lips, no more taxes” promise. Today, the US is paying billions in monthly interest payments just to cover the US debt brought on by the current administration. This is not the “less government” that I was looking for from a Republican administration. In addition, there are many places for privatization instead of having a government bureaucracy. However, organizations such as FEMA, Homeland Security and the Department of Defense should not depend on the many private contractors and sub-contractors as they do today. And now they are talking about having our voting booths and voting machines being managed by private organizations. I do not believe that it would be in the best interest of the American citizens if a “for-profit” private company were to be responsible for managing and counting the votes in the country’s national, state and local elections. There are some things that are better left to the government with the proper public oversight.

As to “was the Regan era worth it”, I guess it all depends on whether you want to stay with the fond memories of the “Great Communicator” or if you want to use hindsight for a lesson well learned. I think I now prefer to just remember Ronald Reagan as the spokesman for early TV's General Electric Theater and the television cowboy host of Death Valley Days. I’m also ready for George W. to head back to Crawford, Texas and for the American citizens to take back and re-establish the America I remember.