Boy, how time flies. Here we are on February 6 and already we celebrate the life of Ronald Reagan, the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the patron saint of conservatism.

For those of you who have followed his life, then you already know that Reagan was a registered Democrat, admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and supporter of the New Deal. But fortunately, he would in the 1950’s politically lean towards the right. Speeches that he wrote would become telling as he was canned by General Electric. He would subsequently switch to the Republican Party, revealing:

“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”

He became the governor of California in 1967, with his platform being one of welfare reform and the anti-war and anti-establishment climate that was prevalent, especially at the University of California at Berkeley. He easily defeated Pat Brown. Early on, he froze state government hiring and did indeed approve tax hikes to balance the budget.

His time as California’s governor helped shape his policies that he would take with him when he would become the U.S. president. It is important to note that Reagan advocated the Republican mantra of less government regulation of the economy, including that of undue federal taxation.

Unfortunately for Reagan, his conservative policies weren’t enough in 1976 as they opted to nominate Gerald Ford, a moderate Republican, to represent the Republican Party; susequently, Ford would lose to Jimmy Carter. But 1980 would find Reagan, the party’s nominee pitted against Carter. Reagan would easily defeat him via the electoral and popular vote.

Reagan’s first term

Reagan’s first term would give us a glimpse of the man as his first inaugural address would be important as he quoted a conservative statement, one that is as true today as it was in 1981:

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”

Reagan gave the unions the smackdown as he utilized the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act; he gave the air traffic controllers who went on strike 48 hours to reconsider their decision or immediately lose their jobs. The union didn’t pay heed to Reagan’s message, and as a result, all 11,345 controllers were fired. Suffice it to say, Reagan gained a measure of respect because of his directive, letting the private sector know that it was perfectly OK to go up against the unions.

The economy improved, albeit not immediately, under the first Reagan Administration. Bear in mind that under Carter, inflation averaged 12.5%, compared to only 4.4% during Reagan’s last year in office. Some highlights of Reagan’s economic policies:

• His policies implemented supply-side economics, using a “laissez-faire, classical liberal (and no, not that kind of liberal) philosophy. The sole intent – and a successful one as time went by – was to stimulate the national economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts.

Reaganomics, as it would be called, would be a ample source of debate as there was plenty of evidence of economic improvement while the whiners critics of Reagan’s policies said that large increases in federal budget deficits and the national debt made his policies wasteful.

• Federal income taxes were decreased significantly with the signing of the “bipartisan” Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. GDP growth, as a result, would recover strongly after the 1982 recession and grew during his eight years in office at a clip of 3.85% annually (That’s nearly a 33% increase in the GDP in total, folks!).

Reagan’s policies proposed that economic growth would take place when the marginal tax rates were low enough to spur investment, which would then lead to more economic growth; this was better known as “trickle-down” economics to the liberals critics, who believed that tax policies that benefit the wealthy would create a trickle-down effect to the poor. Now that certainly sounds like the beginning of what President Obama would advocate during his campaign in 2008: the redistribution of wealth. Sound familiar?

Besides Reagan’s policies, economic and otherwise, he – unlike Obama – had no qualms in using strength to keep the USA safe against all enemies – both domestic and international. The Soviet Union, with their invasion of Afghanistan, enabled Reagan to implement new policies, including bringing back the B-1 bomber program (squashed by Carter) and producing the MX Peacekeeper missile. Of course, he, along with then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, denounced the Soviet Union in ideological terms.

The downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 was instrumental in the start of the Cold War. Reagan would initially bar Soviet air service to the US, while advocating overt and covert assistance that would allow the Afghans to repel the Red Army, essetnially booting the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter, Reagan woudl implement the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which would use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack from nuclear ballistic missiles. I think it is safe to say that SDI, also known as the “Star Wars” program, effectively edned the Cold War. The Soviet Union blinked.

1984 would find Reagan accepting the Republican nomination in Dallas, TX, withthe nation in relatively good shape, both militarily and economically. His opponent (talk about getting a gift!) would be Walter Mondale. Mondale’s offense was all about his questioning whether Reagan was capable of being president for another term. A bad move on Mondale’s part as Reagan told Mondale and an audience of millions:

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

Reagan, as you already know, easily won reelection to the White House. How one-sided was it? Reagan won 49 states and would’ve won all 50, except for the 3,800 misguided and delusional voters who voted for Mondale. but Walter did get D.C. (What Democratic candidate doesn’t?)

Reagan’s second term

 Reagan’s second go-around would be very eventful:

• The war on drugs. Reagan would declare more militant policies in reference to the drug culture, saying that drugs were a menace to our society and promised to fight for drug-free schools and workplaces, stronger law enforcement and drug interdiction efforts and greater public awareness.

In 1986, Reagan would sign into law a drug enforcement bill that would budget $1.7 billion to fund “The War on Drugs” and specify a minimum penalty for drug offenses. Naturally, there were critics, whose bone of contention was that the policies did little to reduce the availability of drugs on the street, while resulting in a greater financial burden on all Americans.

But his time in the Oval Office wasn’t without controversy.

In 1986, there was use of proceeds from covert arm sales to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, which had been explicitly outlawed by an act of Congress, the beginning of the Iran-Contra affair. Long story short, the “actions” in the controversy was taken up by the International Court of Justice (presumably a wing of the farce better known as the United Nations). the “Court” decided that the United States was guilty of “war crimes against Nicaragua”.

Subsequently, the Tower Commission was put together to investigate the affair; while Reagan wasn’t implicated, he was blasted for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible. The result after closure of the controversy was a steep drop in Reagan’s popularity. The controversy ended with 14 indictments, with 11 convictions.

The Cold War would play a role during Reagan’s second term. The Soviet Union had built up its military arsenal; however, the collective effect of the buildup was collectivized agriculture, inefficient planned manufacturing – all of which was a huge burden on the Soviet economy. Also factor in increased Saudi oil production, which dropped prices and was the main source of Soviet export revenues.

Reagan recognized all of those signs, and would get together with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for four summits between 1985 and 1988; the meetings would bear fruit as Reagan would challenge Gorbachev, during a visit to Berlin, Germany at the Berlin Wall, exhorting Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

Both Reagan and Gorbechev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which effectively eliminated a class of nuclear weapons. Later, the Berlin Wall did indeed come down and the Soviet Union collapsed.

There are a lot of lessons taught by Reagan that can be learned by politicians and governors of both political stripes. Smaller government is always preferable to a bloated federal bureaucracy, while a reduction in the tax burden is the only proven way for the US to escape its current economic malaise.

A strong military, as opposed to a “dollar menu” military would ensure that our country remains safe. Reagan spoke out against socialized medicine, a huge bone of contention in our modern times; Reagan said:

“We will awake to find that we have so­cialism. And if you don’t do this, and if I don’t do it, one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”

There is a reason why Reagan is revered by the Republican Party, while the Democrats revile him. Reagan stood for things that the vast majority of Americans stood for then and stand for today.

And that is exactly why the GOP needs to revisit the history of Ronald Reagan, study his philosophy, and start implementing his ideas. I can assure you folks that if the GOP opts to become Obama-Lite, then our country will be thisclose to taking the off-ramp onto the road to Socialism.

And that’s a road that neither you nor I want to take.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke at the Library of Congress Tuesday to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago.

A flexible American strategy based on Ronald Reagan’s inflexible belief in liberty was key to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

The secretary spoke at the Library of Congress at a ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. The Reagan Library sponsored the event.

And Gates was in a position to know: he served as the deputy director of intelligence at the CIA, and as deputy National Security Advisor under President George H.W. Bush.

When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, American influence was low: Iran had humiliated the United States in taking hostages at the embassy in Tehran, the country was in what President Jimmy Carter called a malaise and the Soviet Union looked to match or surpass American military might.

Gates called Reagan “the ultimate Cold Warrior.” The new president’s first job was to restore America’s military strength. “A broad U.S. defense build-up began early in the Reagan administration, with more advanced planes, ships, submarines, combat vehicles and nuclear weapons added to America’s arsenal,” Gates said during his speech.

And Reagan wasn’t afraid to use this new American power. Libya challenged American naval might in the Mediterranean Sea with the “Line of Death” at the Gulf of Sidra. In 1981, Reagan sent two aircraft carriers across the line, and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sent two fighters to challenge the American ships.

“Big mistake,” Gates said. Under Ronald Reagan’s new, aggressive rules of engagement, two F-14 Tomcats splashed the two Libyan fighters.”

Reagan extended the strategy of containment of the Soviet Union far beyond the primary theater of Europe. The Soviets found themselves being confronted in Africa, Asia and Central and South America, Gates said.

“While countering the Soviets … had been a common feature of every administration since the end of World War II, under President Reagan this struggle gained new moral energy, purpose and sense of urgency,” Gates said.

Reagan believed that the West would triumph over communism in his lifetime, and through his two terms in office he never lost sight of that, the secretary said. On Jun 12, 1987, Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate on the western side of the Berlin Wall and issued a challenge to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

“Mr. Gobachev, tear down this wall,” Reagan said.

Gates said there were some in Reagan’s own State Department who didn’t want him to say those words, but the president stuck to his guns.

But Reagan was not simply an ideologue. “President Reagan also had the insight, the sense of historical moment, to know when it was time to sheathe the sword, soften the tone and re-engage – even with our most implacable enemy,” Gates said.

Reagan’s meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in 1984, was “a turning point,” the secretary said. The president followed this with meeting with new Soviet Leader Gorbachev in 1985. And there were items the two sides could negotiate, Gates said.

“He made it clear that we did not value the ICBMs, tanks, or warships in and of themselves. They were negotiable,” the secretary said. “No, the West’s differences with the East – the democracies’ dispute with communism – was, he said, ‘not about weapons, but about liberty.’”

Reagan never lost sight of the fact that the Cold War was a struggle of ideas and economic systems at it root. There were treaties with the nation Reagan called “the Evil Empire.” Gorbachev and Reagan signed the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987, banning the use of these missile systems.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Gates was President George H.W. Bush’s deputy national security advisor. He spoke of his wonder at seeing hundreds of thousands of Berliners dancing on the Wall, hacking away pieces of it and knocking down whole sections with bulldozers.

“There were hundreds of thousands of people in the streets and virtually no violence,” Gates said. “Within two years, the other Soviet satellites had broken free as well, and again, largely without violence. The effort to reform communism, as suspected, actually ended up sweeping it away. For its foundation was force and terror and without them, communism could not survive.”

The world changed when the wall fell 20 years ago, and people are still trying to devise strategies that work in a different, but still dangerous world, the secretary said. “In many ways geopolitics are much more complex than when two nuclear-armed superpowers tested each other,” he said.

Still there are lessons to be learned, and first among them is the appeal of freedom – political, economic and spiritual. “And the idea that free men and women of different cultures and countries can, for all the squabbling inherent in democracy, come together to get the big things right, and make the tough decisions to deter aggression and preserve their liberty,” Gates said.

Each generation must make this choice, he said. “It is a sad reality that in our time and in the future … there will be those who seek through violence and crimes to dominate and intimidate others,” Gates said. “We saw this on (/11, and we see it today in Afghanistan, where more perseverance, more sacrifice and more patience is required to prevent the terrorists who attacked us from doing so again.

“We see it anywhere nations, movements or strongmen are tempted to believe the United States does not have the will or the means to stand by our friends, to meet our commitments and to defend our way of life,” he continued.

President Reagan knew this inherently, Gates said. “Ronald Reagan was a great president who acted and planned, but most importantly, who dreamed and believed,” the secretary said. “And he truly accomplished great things.”