Since Reagan, Clinton and Obama have been good at countering the advance made by Reagan, regarding how
Americans view and understand our system.
It takes more than a Reagan every few decades, to remind people how it is supposed to work.
The dems hammer away continually, and few conservatives speak with Reagan’s skill.
We have Ted Cruz.
The other one who sounds like a classical liberal so far is Pope Francis. Materialism is not the be all end all of life. I hope he doesn’t go global marxist/fascist (modern liberal) on us “to take care of the poor.” I think they call it “social justice” or some such good intention.
The problem is that the progressive agenda works like a ratchet: once it advances, it can’t be reversed by ordinary political means. E.g., conservatives originally opposed SS, fiat money, Medicare, etc., but now they simply resist expansions in these programs. Well, sometimes; at other times they push the ratchet with the progressives. “Conservative” President GWB pushed for NCLB and Medicare Part D.