[DiogenesLamp]

When I was 18 I had the advantage of several years of Reagan-era incompetence and/or malfeasance to inform my discernment on the subject.

I wouldn't call Reagan's failing to do anything about Iran "incompetence." He was having a hard enough time dealing with the Soviets and Congress, which was a Soviet ally at the time.

And what particular thing do you regard as Reagan-era malfeasance?

[Alberta's Child]

The Marine barracks bombing in Beirut — the entire mission, in fact — was a disaster by any objective measure.

And Operation Earnest Will — where someone in the U.S. thought it made sense to put U.S. flags on Kuwaiti tankers during the Iran-Iraq War — never should have happened.