Ronald Reagan Myth Doesn't Square with Reality

Ronald Reagan

/ AP

About 10,000 people will gather this weekend at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California to honor what would have been the 100th birthday of former President Ronald Reagan -- among them Dick Cheney, the Beach Boys and Sarah Palin.

Reagan, who served as president from 1981 -1989 and died in 2004 at the age of 93, is widely considered the patron saint of conservatives; ask a prominent conservative their hero, and odds are they'll point to the Gipper. (The adulation is so widespread that candidates at a debate last month among the candidates to be RNC chairman were asked their hero - "aside from President Reagan.")

Reagan is perhaps most often invoked by those who cast him as having held the line against tax increases. Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, for example, often points to Reagan when calling for lower taxes and spending cuts; he says, by contrast, "tax hikes are what politicians do when they don't have the determination or the competence to govern." Conservatives also hail Reagan as a budget cutter willing to make hard choices to keep spending in line.

It's certainly true that Reagan entered office as a full-throated conservative vowing to cut both spending and taxes. And he quickly followed through on part of that promise, passing a major reduction in marginal tax rates. (According to author Lou Cannon, the top marginal rate fell from 70 percent when he came into office to 28 percent when he left.)

But following his party's losses in the 1982 election, Reagan largely backed off his efforts at spending cuts even as he continued to offer the small-government rhetoric that helped get him elected. In fact, he went in the opposite direction: His creation of the department of veterans affairs contributed to an increase in the federal workforce of more than 60,000 people during his presidency.

And while Reagan somewhat slowed the marginal rate of growth in the budget, it continued to increase during his time in office. So did the debt, skyrocketing from $700 billion to $3 trillion. Then there's the fact that after first pushing to cut Social Security benefits - and being stymied by Congress - Reagan in 1983 agreed to a $165 billion bailout of the program. He also massively expanded the Pentagon budget.

Meanwhile, following that initial tax cut, Reagan actually ended up raising taxes - eleven times. That's according to former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, a longtime Reagan friend who co-chaired President Obama's fiscal commission that last year offered a deficit reduction proposal.

(at left, CBS News correspondents and producers share their best memories of Reagan)

"Ronald Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes," historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan's diaries, told NPR. "He knew that it was necessary at times. And so there's a false mythology out there about Reagan as this conservative president who came in and just cut taxes and trimmed federal spending in a dramatic way. It didn't happen that way. It's false."

It's important to note that Reagan's tax increases did not wipe out the effects of that initial tax cut. But they did eat up about half of it. And as Peter Beinart points out, the 1983 payroll tax hike went to pay for Social Security and Medicare. ("Reagan raised taxes to pay for government-run health care," Beinart writes.) Reagan also raised the gas tax and signed the largest corporate tax increase in history, an act Joshua Green writes would be "utterly unimaginable for any conservative to support today."

Reagan was not happy about raising taxes or expanding government, and we certainly shouldn't forget that he had to work within the constraints placed upon him by a non-compliant Congress. But that doesn't change the fact that Reagan both increased spending and, after the initial cut, showed a willingness to raise taxes - exactly the sort of policy prescriptions so widely condemned by today's Reagan-reverent conservatives.

These facts have largely been lost as the right has enshrined Reagan as its patron saint, and they may fade further amid the speeches at this weekend's centennial celebration. But the reality is that Reagan was a president who held firm beliefs but was also willing to work with his ideological opponents. And that's the sort of thing that doesn't much lend itself to mythmaking.

[vreesor]

As usual, the main message behind Reagan's economic message is being misrepresented here in an attempt to justify tax-and-spend Leftist ideology. Reagan emphasized the negative effects of INCOME TAX rates and its disincentive toward investment and the ability of all Americans to manage their own lives (this is why ALL income tax rates were lowered - not just on the "rich" which Leftists like to emphasize). He never, ever backed away from this. These tax increases the article mentions were compromises he had to make to get things done. Reagan always advocated getting what you could and trying again later for more. Attempts, as the President is trying to do lately, that Reagan was comfortable with Leftist tax-and-spend ideology is completely disengenuous and false.

[ulyssesmsu]

Reagan did not raise taxes even one time. Nor did he cut taxes, ever. Only Congress can raise taxes, cut taxes, and spend money. If Reagan did anything, he first had to persuade Congress that it was the right thing to do.

[010sonny]

Useless; Ever try to explain to an alcoholic the benefits of sobriety? It is akin to discussing with you the benefits of education. Useless... http://youtu.be/fys3MsKMpms

[Bannington]

You badly need to get acquainted with how reality works. The President submits budgets which are introduced in the House of Representatives then negotiated and voted on by both houses of Congress. Seven of the eight budgets submitted by the Reagan Administration were cut before finally being passed. So the assertion that Reagan stood guard against a wasteful spendthrift Congress is an illusion. You will also find Ronald Reagan's signature on no fewer than eight major tax-increase bills. He signed into law the largest Social Security Tax increase ever, the largest Medicare Tax increase ever, the largest Federal Gasoline Tax increase ever, and the largest Excise Tax increases ever.

[hahaha_cbs_IGetIt]

I lived in Simi Valley when they buried him there. Saw all the living presidents come in a limousine from Port Hueneme base. Went to the Reagan library a few days later and pissed on his grave. Why is this demented old man honored?

[Mazer_Rackem]

If you live through the 1970s, you know several facts about Ronald Reagan that can't be disputed. First, Reagan restored America's prominence as the leader of the free world. Reagan defeated the Soviet Union, just ask any number of former Soviet Generals, and he did this in the face of overwhelming opposition from the Democratic Party in America and the main stream press, both of whom incessantly denigrated our efforts to contain and confront communism as anachronistic. (Perhaps not surprisingly, the members of the press on the wrong side of history and the Democratic party as a whole have never apologized for their abject naivete and lack of vision.) Reagan also helped usher in an era of growth and prosperity that the U.S. had not seen in America for well over a decade.

Not surprisingly, the author of this article and many of the comments seeks to do all they can to dismiss reality. They have to do so. Otherwise, they would have to reexamine their entire view of history and the world. What would it be like to say: oh yeah, I supported the continued demoralization of America; I supported the continuation of the Soviet Union; I supported the nuclear freeze movement, which was sponsored by the Soviet Union; I supported higher taxes, the growth of the welfare state; and the explosion of the budgets that were tendered by the Democratic Congresses throughout the 1980s. I can't imagine what that must be like for Mr. Montopoli and for the others who commented so negatively, because they all seem so desperate to prove that Ronald Reagan couldn't have been right about oh so many things. However, history shows that, while he wasn't perfect, Reagan sure was right for America.

[lingo009]

There always seems to be a lot of confusion about Reagan. The truth is- he came in at a time when this country wasn't feeling so good about itself. In the 70's we had the whole Nixon disaster, Vietnam, the inflated oil prices and towards the end- the Iran Hostage situation.

When he hit the stage, he did it well with a lot of optimism and shiny rhetoric. I remember it well. Yes, we all felt good about the potential of america again.

Personally, I liked him and thought he meant well. In some cases he did do well.

However, his policies left us in a huge debt that wouldn't be eradicated until Clinton in the 90's. His belief in 'trickle down' economics is still the status quo and THE very reason we have the disaster we do now.

The notion that money will 'flow down' from the corporations when making good profits has run it's course.

Reagan was wrong. Laws protecting the average joe (regulations) are sorely needed in a lot of sectors.

Thankfully, we are slowly but surely turning the tide.

[txlakeside]

This is why they are republiCONS! They lie and steal all the while claiming they are helping you!

[iPhoney]

Brian WHO? Another SheBS know-nothing liberal lying about a Great President who he hates.
The TRUTH is, the DEMOCRATS were in power throughout the Reagan Years, and it was radical leftist
Tip O'Neil and his gang who bloated the government and spending. Reagan's defense spending which eventually helped destroy the murderous, despotic Communist Regime aka USSR, was DWARFED by all of the do-good, feel-good, socialistic programs the Lib Dems and Lib Rhinos pushed.

[010sonny]

Though the Reagan administration was officially forbidden by congress to support the contras, the US secretly provided financial aid for them. Through Ollie North and the highly controversial Iran-Contra Affair, the US provided the contras with endless financial aid stemming from profits from an illegal arms trade with Iran. With this aid the guerillas conducted a war. Contreras were the Right Wing aristocrats that had monopolized the country under their dictatorship. Arms deal supplied the Middle East with weapons that disrupted the Middle East. [Marine Barracks Lebanon]
Shah was a another dictator that was forced on the people of Iran. His overthrow was ordained just as the dictators of today are discovering. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Jordan. Right Wing policies are coming under attack. Note; Ortega reelected to Nicaragua and no Viet Nam war required. Iran's disposition of religious leadership for secular leadership. National debt Reagan takes office $ 700 Billion leaves office debt $ 3trillion ! Carter terminates B-2 bomber and republicans claim weak on commie's. Carter realized that Russian and Large bombers were obsolete. SR-71[Blackbird] from skunk works made it so. Never said a word. Even when Reagan was double dealing for hostage release with the terrorist. Then destroys alternative energies that Carte was trying to bring up. Pushing for cheap oil and coal pollution. Right Wing agendas that are still trickling down upon us to this day..
Oh yeah Carter letting Russia invade Afghanistan. Their Viet Nam that brought them to their knees. YOUR POINT??? On feel good socialistic programs? Refering to our educational system, or our police, fire departments, military, taxes or perhaps the Welfare Health Care that only our elitist leadership is allowed to have? Imagine that Welfare for the elite. For you the P-ON the bill.. Just so you'll have something to look into; Communist fell 1991 Russia and 1997 China. Due to International Free Trade politics. Whoosh RIGHT over your head there RIGHT? This herd of weak feeble minded mentality has voted republicans back into power. How short their memories are. One, as the rest of the world is observing the totality of Americans ignorance and retardation. Pearls before swine is very appropriate. Reminds me of Churchill's evaluation of Americans. "Americans will explore every alternative before discovering and making the right decision"! If they should survive that long before their competitors tramples them into the archives of historical failures. A history of a failed savage nation filled with the ignorance of Right Wing autocratic HoDo Voodo false propaganda of their Pied Piper Fox.

[iolo--2008]

@dahlmike
i realize you are a starry-eyed , eyes-closed-to-the-sordid-details, money worshipping nobody. I realize that even if one did have the brains to make their own business, the corporate business would eat him, or her, for lunch. I realize that you
probably have a desk job, eat so much that you are forced to go to the gym more often than you'd like and still not often enough to look like you are not bloated.
I realize that the 'free-world' has been sold down the river, abetted by conspicuous-consumption oriented fools, possibly like you. I realize you are one of the apologists who can mouth the words but don't know the import of anything you have ever read.
p.s., thanks for the compliment on the writing - you probably feel very cleaver to have worked that in
if the present repubs/tea-baggers have their way, we'll be chained to our mud huts by next year - excellence and hard work should be rewarded, and the expectation of reward should be ridiculed, as should your apologist simpering worship of the corporate capitalist, give-me-money-or-give-me-death, i'll-take-you-all-down-with-me set

[010sonny]

Some here still cling to their ignorance,they fail to observe the veil of republican propaganda, is nothing more than dust in the realities of history. What will remain in history is the amazement of those that research it, the incredible negative effects a Fox has on the weak minded of our society.
From Nixon to Bush republicans will stand out as the example of an Imperalist and Fascist Autocratic system.

[bonzothemonkey]

I hope this new "Reagan Reality" puts the brakes on any across-the-board tax slashing by the Far Right Tea Bagger crowd. Listen to their talking points (even they occasionally get something right) but don't join their parade!