Reaganism and Understanding It

This past week was the 40^th anniversary of Ronald Reagan historic tax cuts, signed into law by the Gipper.

It was a radical plan, seen only years before ironically by John F. Kennedy, who as a Democrat, had province over the issue of tax cuts. The Republicans were the green eye shade, balance the budget party.

My, how things have changed.

Reagan’s tax cut sparked four decades of economic growth, though the socialist we now have in the White House seems bent on destroying it.

Just think, just a few years ago, we achieved energy independence under the Trump Administration, but now under the Dunce-in-Chief, he’s destroyed all that and we are now watching the spectacle of him groveling on his knees to our enemies in the Middle East begging them to pump more oil.

No wonder his polling numbers are upside down.

It’s not good to see a president crawl on his belly.

We aren’t even going to talk about Afghanistan except to say innocent people are dying there and it’s Biden’s fault.

This is not unusual for liberals to crawl. They don’t know how to create, they only destroy.

Destroy the language, destroy statues, destroy families, destroy education, destroy the military. Biden is both malicious and stupid.

But he is not smart. He is not wise.

He has no common sense. He is our first “Special Needs” president.

It doesn’t take a doctor to fix what he’s destroyed, not even a faux doctor. It just takes common sense, something that eludes Biden.

Other things elude other politicians.

I just received a missive which erroneously said the Reagan Revolution was sparked by the signing of his historic tax cuts.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Reagan Revolution began many years earlier, maybe even when he gave his historic speech lauding the candidacy of Barry Goldwater in 1964.

Or it may have started in 1976 with his groundbreaking challenge to President Gerald Ford for the GOP nomination.

Or when he announced his next to last drive for the White House, or when he was actually elected president in 1980 and the era of Reaganism actually began.

But it started long before he signed the tax cuts, and the Reagan Revolution was about much, much more than tax cuts.

It was also about a defense buildup, getting tough with the commies, social policy, spending policy, and more.

Reagan, the philosopher, knew that power could not be created, only moved around. And part of the reason he ran in the first place was to halt the 50-year movement of power from the individual to the state.

Reagan, the small “L” libertarian always believed in the rights and dignity and privacy of the individual. And he said so often in his speeches.

When he took office in January of 1981, the country was a mess due to the failed policies of Jimmy Carter, one of America’s worst presidents.

Things were a mess economically, militarily, socially, in every which way. Inflation was out of control, interest rates were out of control, the Soviets were running amok throughout the world and the country needed the

Reagan strong touch immediately, not nine months later.

It is an important anniversary, and I am comforted to see it is still being celebrated and marked. But it was not the beginning of the Reagan Revolution.

For my wife Zorine and I who were foot soldiers in the Reagan Revolution, it began months earlier, possibly years earlier, when in the mind of a young man or young woman, or in Reagan’s mind itself, a spark was ignited and an original thought provoked which said, “Enough is enough. This is my country, and it is being run into the ground and I am not going to take it anymore. Because our ideas are better than their ideas.”

Or, as Thomas Paine said, “Now is the time that try men’s souls.” Remarkable words.

Such thoughts occur from time to time. As in 1776, once again, Atlas must shrug and the current band of liberal thieves and fatuous leftist nincompoops must be thrown out of office.

Such thoughts are truly American.

Craig Shirley is a Ronald Reagan biographer, presidential historian, and four-time best-selling author. His most recent book is ''Mary Ball Washington,'' a definitive biography of George Washington’s mother. Read Craig Shirley's Reports — More Here.