Ronald Reagan: The Failure of Conservatism

Much can be said about the 40th President.

By guest contributor Beaver Dan.

If you have ever paid any kind of attention to politics, it is inevitable that you have heard the name of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States of America. Ever since his presidency (1981–89), he has been an icon of the American Right, being quoted by every conservative and libertarian in the last four decades. Even today we can see his influence both in the Republican Party and right-wing politics everywhere. With his principles of small government, free markets, foreign intervention, mass legal immigration, and a general appeal to Evangelical Christianity, Ronald Reagan created what would rule the Republican Party from his presidency all the way to the Trump Revolution in 2016. However, the praises and icon status that have been given to this man are mostly the products of ignorance of what he did and nostalgia for what many conservatives consider a long-gone era.

Understanding Reagan’s Victory

To understand Reagan, it is imperative to understand the context in which he was elected. The 1970s were an incredibly painful decade in America. Political violence, characteristic of the leftovers of the civil rights movement, was in full swing at the beginning of the decade. Watergate, a political scandal which overthrew a president, brought shame to the country. Stagflation, a recession, the beginning of the erosion and mockery of Christianity in public life, two assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford, the disastrous presidency of Jimmy Carter which humiliated the country on the world stage, and an ever-increasing crime rate — among many other things — had Americans in despair.

Americans were feeling the effects of the sharp decline of a nation, begging for a person who would finally come and save it. The person they chose for that role ended up being California Governor — and yes, populist — Ronald Reagan.

There are many reasons Americans flocked to the former Governor of California, but it is undeniable that his key ingredient was his ability to deliver speeches which could move even the most ardent opponent of his. His exceptional public speaking skills made him, in my opinion, among the best public speakers America has had to offer. Reagan offered a mixture of nationalism, populism, and “hope and comfort to the American people.” This is perfectly exemplified by his Inaugural Address of 1981.

Just like Trump, Reagan spoke about the importance of a strong military. He talked to the middle American who felt abandoned, referring to Americans as “heroes” and as an exceptional breed. He spoke of the need for fighting and recognizing the little guy, of providing solutions that would increase the salaries of everyday Americans through tax cuts — what he even described as giving them “a fair return [for their labor].” Reagan even talked about making America a “strong and prosperous nation” once again with phrases like “Let us begin an era of national renewal.” In fact, Reagan’s political slogan was “Let’s make America great again.” He united the nation — which still was Christian at the time — by rejecting the mockery of God and bringing Christianity back into the mainstream with constant appeals to God. Finally, as a good populist, he pointed at the reason for the people’s problems, but instead of being a group of people, it was government itself.

Reagan did not win because of his support of mass migration, hawkish foreign policies, or supply-side economics as some libertarians would make you believe. Indeed, Reagan’s victory was not too dissimilar to Trump’s; it was a cry for help. With this, he proceeded to win the 1980 Presidential Election effortlessly and with one of the biggest landslides in modern history after those of FDR (1936) and Richard Nixon (1972).

Reagan’s Accomplishments

It is undeniable that when Reagan left office in 1989, America was a better and stronger nation than it was in 1981. His administration stopped inflation, which led to two decades of economic prosperity. Prices were stable, housing was affordable, and people had enough disposable income to sustain a family. Let’s not forget that part of the joke about The Simpsons was that they were poor. Yet, Homer could sustain a family of five with a single income, in a safe-though-not-fancy neighborhood, and they were able to take multiple trips throughout the country — in a car, of course, because they were poor — without the ’80s/’90s audience thinking it was weird.

Reagan’s government strengthened America’s presence on the world stage. He helped influence the decline and final collapse of the Soviet Union through his military spending and, through his talks with USSR General Secretary and Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, marked the pathway for the unipolar moment of American global supremacy.

Reagan’s defeat of the Soviet Union is still hailed as the most important victory in American conservatism. For over three decades, this defeat of communism has been a staple talking point of American conservatism.

How Celebrating His Accomplishments Weakens the Right

However, while the defeat of communism was a noble struggle and the growth of the American economy was beneficial to the country, the right wing commits the fatal error in assuming that it was Reagan alone who was responsible for these successes. They justify the failures of modern conservatism on the alleged past victories of Reaganism, ignoring how Reagan’s interventionist policies existed in a context which was the fight against the Soviet Union; and that most of the economic gains Reagan achieved were concerned with the stock market and the financial industry, just as the American blue-collar worker began to be displaced thanks to outsourcing, marking the beginning of the opioid epidemic in White America.

American conservatives are still stuck in a Cold War mentality, justifying foreign intervention, blaming external forces such as the CCP — which only rose to prominence because of America’s help by allowing them into the World Trade Organization under and with the aid of Bush, Jr. — or Russia for the decline of the nation, while ignoring the domestic elements that push for the decline.

The reality is that the world has moved on since the days of Reagan. Both the economic changes Reagan brought and the new understanding of geopolitics, despite their short-term benefits, have had disastrous long-term consequences for the country as a whole. The Republican Party and the country are doomed should we preserve outdated policies from a long-gone era. By continuing with the worship and policies of Reaganism, the conservative movement shall be condemned to being, as Sam Francis described, “Beautiful Losers.”

Policies and Legacy

Truly Conservative?

Reagan is commonly considered the embodiment of the right wing in America. In fact, it is because of him that free-market capitalism, small government, and conservative values are considered to be the foundations of the right wing while anything that diverts from these tenets is labeled left-wing. However, with an image and estimation so high, it is important to analyze whether Reagan, his policies, or legacy can be characterized as truly conservative.

The Neoconservative

Ronald Reagan is the posterchild of William F. Buckley and his publication National Review. Reagan’s claim to conservative fame was “A Time for Choosing,” his speech in support of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign. Buckley and other neoconservatives would see the potential in Reagan’s communication skills and devotion to Goldwater’s ideals, dubbing him “the Great Communicator,” and would encourage him to run for Governor of California. Buckley was an early supporter of Reagan, having him as a guest on his show Firing Line eight times. Buckley bragged that he was promoting what would eventually be known as “Reaganism,” even when Reagan was a Democrat in 1961. The ideology and policies Reagan gave to the American Right had been originally conceived by the authors of National Review, Barry Goldwater, and other founders of the New Right.

It is noteworthy to recognize that Barry Goldwater’s platform was fiercely rejected by the voters of 1964. Goldwater lost in a landslide, both in the Electoral College and in the popular vote, because of what was considered an outlandish platform outlined in his manifesto The Conscience of a Conservative. However, only 16 years later, what was once considered radical in conservative politics became the mainstream, with the full acceptance of Reaganism.

Gun Control

Perhaps the biggest flaw Reagan Conservatives are willing to admit is his anti-gun stance on the Second Amendment. Most notably, the ironically named Firearms Owner’s Protection Act of 1986 infamously outlawed the purchase of machine guns manufactured after 1986, made it mandatory to receive approval by the ATF to purchase a machine gun, and made the legal transfer of a machine gun a bureaucratic nightmare by expanding the bureaucratic powers of the ATF, in a process that goes like this:

• Both the seller and the buyer must file an application to the ATF to allow for the transfer.

• Both parties must reside in the same state.

• The buyer must pay a $200 transfer tax to ATF.

• The application must include detailed information on the firearm and the parties to the transfer.

• The transferee must certify on the application that he or she is not disqualified from possessing firearms on grounds specified in law.

• The transferee must submit with the application (1) two photographs taken within the past year; and (2) fingerprints.

• The transferee must submit with the application (3) a copy of any state or local permit or license required to buy, possess, or acquire machine guns.

• An appropriate (local) law enforcement official must certify whether he or she has any information indicating that the firearm will be used for other than lawful purposes or that possession would violate state or federal law.

• The transferee must, as part of the registration process, pass an extensive FBI criminal background investigation.

This, combined with the fact of the now-rarity of automatic weapons, makes it unaffordable for most Americans to own one.

However, there are a few more facts the conservative movement chooses to ignore, such as the Mulford Act, which Reagan signed on July 28, 1967, banning open carry in the State of California. Reagan also signed a law that mandated a 15-day waiting period and a background check for the purchases of firearms. And while it is true that the signing of these bills was in response to the activities of the Black Panthers, future acts by President Reagan would show that his strong anti-gun stance wasn’t just limited to keeping Black nationalists unarmed.

After leaving office, Reagan publicly supported the Brady Bill which mandated a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun, pleading President George H.W. Bush to stop the opposition to the bill. On top of that, Reagan urged Congress to pass the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban signed by Bill Clinton. Two lawmakers said they changed their votes because of Reagan’s support for the bill; the bill passed by two votes.

This disastrous legacy would not be so insulting to conservatives had it not been for the fact that Ronald Reagan was a long-time NRA member and a featured speaker at the organization, where he stressed the importance of gun ownership and the Second Amendment.

No-Fault Divorce

In 1969, Reagan was the first governor of any state to institute no-fault divorce. Quickly after California’s passage of this bill, more bills like these quickly spread across the nation. It is rumored that the reason Reagan implemented this bill was his bad experience with the divorce from his first wife. From 1960 to 1980, divorce rates more than doubled, from 9.1 per 1,000 married couples to 22.6 per 1,000. This bill opened the floodgates of broken families and the divorce industry that would ravage the country in the following decades. Although Reagan later said that he regretted signing it into law, it does not take away the fact that it was his bill that began it all.

Abortion

Reagan signed a law liberalizing abortion in California by using the classic excuse of “health of the mother.” In his words: “Just as we morally grant to ourselves the right of taking life in self-defense, we are justified in liberalizing abortion for that protection.” Although he expressed discomfort and rejection of the use of abortion as a tool of eugenics, his actions nonetheless created this most liberal precedent. Reagan later expressed regret at the signing of the bill due to the increase in abortions, arguing that the bill was being purposefully misrepresented.

While campaigning, he supported the idea of a constitutional amendment that would prohibit abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother. However, there were only vague efforts to pass the Hatch Amendment, the bill proposed to fulfill this goal, and so it was easily defeated.

Homosexuality

Although characterized by the Left as an extremely homophobic administration, the reality is that, according to those close to Reagan, he was extremely left-wing on that issue. Indeed, Reagan’s son Ron recounted to the Daily Beast that it wasn’t uncommon for his father to invite homosexual couples to his house, not having any problem with them. Ron emphasized that the delayed response to the AIDS epidemic was mainly due to the fact that it was a new phenomenon and that that they got caught in the moment, when his father was focused primarily on the economy and efforts against nuclear weapons, working with Gorbachev for the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Eroding American Identity

The foundation of any nation is its people, customs, and way of life. Each nation is different because each people is different. However, during his presidency, Reagan made one of the most destructive changes to the public view of what America is. Making America out to be nothing more than an economic zone and a vague idea of hope and freedom for the world under the Constitution, Reagan switched the view of the country from that of a nation to the idea that America exists to serve the unfortunate people abroad. We can follow this line of logic that culminates in the concept that America is nothing but an idea, that as long as the Constitution exists, that is America; meaning that America is not its culture, people, heroes, places, traditions, etc.… but that if we remove all of that and just install the U.S. Constitution on some desert island in the Pacific, that would be America — the rest is replaceable.

This is the reason modern conservatism is nothing but pickup trucks, guns, and snarky slogans with a vague set of values such as low taxes and being against the “crazy Left.” Reagan eroded our identity to such a degree that conservatives had to create their own, as artificial, performative, and consumerist as it is today.

Immigration

It is well known to everyone that Ronald Reagan was staunchly pro-immigration; however, I don’t think most Americans can understand just how pro-open borders Reagan was until they’ve listened to his final speech as president. This final speech, delivered January 19, 1989, has been considered a “love letter to immigrants.” According to Reagan, America’s source of greatness and strength is immigration, and America’s job is to be the “beacon of freedom and opportunity” to all oppressed people on Earth: “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation.”

In other words, “diversity is our strength.” Therefore, as he also said in this speech, deporting immigrants and closing the doors would be an infinite tragedy. In the same speech, Reagan pushed the lie that the Statue of Liberty exists to welcome immigrants.

By every standard laid down by Reagan, illegals who cross the Rio Grande are better Americans — more American — than you are.

And it was not just in rhetoric that Reagan supported immigration. It can be argued that Reagan’s impact on the country regarding immigration is comparable to or worse than the 1965 Hart-Celler Act. His legacy includes, but is not limited to:

• In 1980, he called to “open the border both ways” so that immigrants can cross and work with visa and pay taxes with almost unrestricted travel.

• In 1982, the Supreme Court forbade schools to deny services based on illegal immigration status.

• In 1986, Reagan gave the biggest amnesty in U.S. history, which legalized 2.7 million illegal aliens and consequently turned California into a Democrat stronghold; he had previously justified it in the second presidential debate against Democrat Walter Mondale during the 1984 Election, saying that every illegal who arrived before 1982 should be granted citizenship.

• In 1986, Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which forbade hospitals from denying emergency care services based on unauthorized immigration status. Therefore, an illegal woman can give birth in America, and the baby would automatically become an “anchor baby,” who would be given citizenship and receive all the benefits due any American.

• In 1987, Reagan used his executive authority to legalize the status of minor children of parents granted amnesty, protecting them from deportation.

Needless to say, Reagan was way closer to any Democrat and RINO in the country than to a real America-First position — in some cases, particularly in his pro-immigration stances, going to even greater extremes than the Left. It is important for the modern right-winger to know that up until the arrival of Trump, the Republican Party was the party of immigration, whose last vestiges can be seen in the interview with Bernie Sanders when he said that mass migration was a Koch Brothers conservative policy, an assertion that may seem outlandish now, but that can only be understood by recognizing the monster the posterchild William F. Buckley and National Review created.

Reaganomics

Reaganomics is the set of economic policies under the Reagan administration. Heavily influenced by Senator Goldwater and William F. Buckley, it was based on five core principles: 1) reduced government spending, 2) reduced taxes, 3) deregulation, 4) slowdown of monetary supply, and 5) free markets and free trade.

As conservatives, we all can, for the most part, agree that these principles are generally positive and of common sense. However, Reagan’s policies either failed miserably in achieving their goals or compromised the right wing, making it subservient to big corporations and the donor class, compromising its constituency.

Spending and debt had their highest increase since the FDR administration, tripling from $908 billion when Reagan took office to $2.6 trillion when he finally left office. Spending increased; the bureaucracy didn’t shrink.

Reagan’s policies shaped what would later become NAFTA, which shipped manufacturing jobs to Mexico, further killing Detroit’s economy and condemning an already-dying Rust Belt.

Military spending increased significantly, emboldening the military-industrial complex and its irresponsible spending which has only increased since Reagan’s days.

Finally, Reagan failed to eliminate useless public programs, not even those of the New Deal or the Great Society, which he promised to do.

The only real achievements of Reaganomics were a 28% decrease in income taxes, an end to the inflation of the ’70s and early ’80s, and the increasing of profits of multinational corporations. But if you are still wondering whether Reagan’s approach was good or not, think about why the “Blue Wall” could not be broken until Trump’s election in 2016.

And now, what do we have left? High military spending, foreign wars, high debt, even more useless programs, the destruction of blue-collar America, and the complete enslavement of our government by corporate interests.

Decisions with Negative Long-Run Consequences

As stated above, Reagan’s presidency saw an increase in American stability and strength. However, many of the policies brought about by the administration have backfired in spectacular ways, specifically to the right wing. I will discuss them briefly.

In expanding the powers of the military, Reagan created the Continuity of Government plans, which would put the military in charge should the U.S. government be crippled and the “continuity of government” (i.e., transfer of power from one president to another) become unfeasible. Although cautionary plans to perpetuate the U.S. have existed since the Eisenhower administration, Reagan gave the military greater power.

In 1986, Reagan signed into law the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which eliminates any kind of legal liability for vaccine manufacturers should a vaccine cause an injury or side effect to the patient. After the shenanigans of this latest pandemic, it is easy to see the problem with this law.

A RINO by Today’s Standards

Ronald Reagan’s son Ron gave an interview to the Daily Beast in which he proclaimed that his father would be an outspoken Never-Trumper: “My father would have been embarrassed and ashamed that a President of the United States was as incompetent and traitorous as the man occupying the White House now. He’s a disgrace to the Office of the Presidency.” And you may say that that is just the quote of a left-wing fanatic taking advantage of his dead father’s name; however, a closer analysis would easily prove that Ron’s diagnosis of how his father would react is nothing short of accurate.

We don’t need to read the countless articles from various publications decrying Trumpism and begging for a return to Reagan’s party. In fact, we just need to look at one of the most infamous Republicans today: Mitt Romney. Romney is another wealthy elite who is stuck in a Cold War mentality. He hates the non-interventionist position of Trump, he is in favor of mass migration and foreign intervention, and he is socially liberal. He publicly expressed support for BLM. He profited from the outsourcing of American manufacture and the auto bailout, along with his partner Paul Singer. Romney’s 2012 campaign strategy was to be as similar to Reagan as he could be, from his rhetoric to his mannerisms, complaining about Obama’s approach of Big Government and talking about unifying under common sense. In other words, Mitt Romney is a socially liberal, free-market millionaire globalist, who rejects the tenets of American nationalism.

Reagan no doubt would have been in favor of the Middle Eastern wars and multibillion-dollar packages in foreign aid. He would have a militant approach towards Russia regarding the situation in Ukraine, completely neglecting his fellow Americans.

The party Reagan fought to create is the party voters rallied against during the Trump Revolution in 2016. The only two Republican presidents after Reagan — excluding Trump — were the direct legacy of the Reagan administration. George H.W. Bush, formerly Reagan’s vice president, continued Reagan’s agenda during his term. He plunged America into the Gulf War and the subsequent wars in the Middle East. He continued the outsourcing of jobs and all other bad trends from the Reagan administration, rather egregiously through the Immigration Act of 1990, which greatly increased the number of people who could immigrate to the U.S. H.W.’s son, George W. Bush, was similarly bad, plunging America into multiple endless wars in the Middle East, expanding the deficit, and enacting the Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2007, which legalized around 12 million — yes, you read that right — illegal aliens just before the financial crisis, which undoubtedly made economic matters even worse for the American people.

To fall back would be to go back to the era of slow decline, where most people do not pay attention to politics and are easily tricked by establishment shills, just as has been the case for the last four decades.

Recognize Reagan as What He Really Was

We have to acknowledge Reagan for what he really was: a greatly charismatic guy, and a product of a coalition that subverted the conservative movement in the ’60s, eroding any sense of real nationalism, protectionism, and immigration restriction, which had been staples of conservatism up until that time.

Appealing to the ideal of limited government was their only truly conservative position. This coalition actively purged any old conservative from its ranks, from Pat Buchanan — whom Reagan allegedly actively ignored — to Sam Francis and others in the name of what Buckley called “respectability.”

Reagan is the product of a conservative movement which, outside of a victory against the Soviet Union, has lost, caved, and failed on every single issue it was tasked to defend, whether cultural, political, or economic. He was elected as the savior of this Great Nation during a time of great pain, chosen by the people for the same reasons Donald Trump was — but unlike Trump, he pursued the policies opposite what his voters selected him for.

There is still so much that can be said about the 40th President, but I figured that this would be enough to give you an honest picture.

Reagan was a product of an era long gone and should be left behind; Americans who chose to embrace him will not only continue to produce a worthless and frustrating right wing, but will ensure the end of the United States of America.

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Note: This article began as a script written over two years ago for a small conservative YouTube channel formerly named “Yankee Perspective.” I submitted the article anonymously through my now-defunct burner Twitter account. The video that came out of it, “Ronald Reagan Isn’t As Great As You Think,” while not bad, left out or toned down much of the information.

This Old Glory Club article clarifies and corrects a few things. It is the final, expanded, and revised version of what I would have wanted the video to be. If you do watch the video, please leave no mean comments; I simply wanted to take this piece in a different direction.

Thank you for reading!

– Beaver Dan