Yes, Reagan was great, but it's time to move on

Chicago Sun Times ^ | Feb 11, 2004 | George Will

[PhiKapMom]

In this winter of their discontents, nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking. This mental paralysis -- gratitude decaying into idolatry -- is sterile: Neither the man nor his moment will recur. Conservatives should face the fact that Reaganism cannot define conservatism.

[PhiKapMom]

Interesting editorial from George Will today!

[PhiKapMom]

FYI!

[BunnySlippers]

Do you need a ping list ;)

[Old_Mil]

I see that the three self appointed pallbearers for conservatism showed up for work early today...

[PhiKapMom]

I haven't used the ping list yet. I thought you two would be interested in reading this! I cracked up laughing when I saw this in my paper The Oklahoman this morning. The first paragraph was priceless!

[areafiftyone]

(((((PING)))))

[dirtboy]

In this winter of their discontents, nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking.

Reagan also showed the Rockefeller wing how to win.

A lesson the Rockefellers refuse to accept and hate to this day.

So they always seek to go back to their losing ways.

[Clintonfatigued]

Very well-put.

Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th. century. He is missed and rightfully so.

Still, this is a different time and the nation is faces different challenges than it did when Reagan guided it. We need to think outside the box and look to new approaches when we choose our next President.

[kinoxi]

Looking to model less than 2 decades old isn't exactly preposterous. The article implies that Reagan was ancient history and people who wish to emulate him are 'stuck on stupid'.

[EternalVigilance]

The attempts to pull Ronald Reagan down to the level of Rudy McRomney "Republicanism" continue apace.

[BunnySlippers]

The whole article is excellent and timely I might add. He makes some not heretofore stated points.

I'm just wondering when we will hear (again) that George will is actually a RINO.

[PhiKapMom]

If you would like to jump on board for Rudy for President 2008, please freep mail areafiftyone or let us know on this thread! We will be glad to add you to our ping list!

PKM

[KoRn]

"Because of Reagan's role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Diggins ranks him among the ''three great liberators in American history'' -- the others being Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt -- and among America's three or four greatest presidents. But, says Diggins, an Emersonian president who tells us our desires are necessarily good leaves much to be desired."

Strange. This paragraph was repeated, word for word. A copy/paste error I suppose.

[sfvgto]

....move where?

[PhiKapMom]

Actually I did View Source and didn't read it until it was posted.

[PhiKapMom]

Still, this is a different time and the nation is faces different challenges than it did when Reagan guided it. We need to think outside the box and look to new approaches when we choose our next President.

Couldn't agree more with what you have to say.

[DTogo]

I see that the three self appointed pallbearers for conservatism showed up for work early today

HA! HA! HA!

[KantianBurke]

"An unmentionable irony,'' writes Diggins, is that big-government conservatism is an inevitable result of Reaganism. ''Under Reagan, Americans could live off government and hate it at the same time. Americans blamed government for their dependence upon it.'' Unless people have a bad conscience about demanding big government -- a dispenser of unending entitlements -- they will get ever larger government. But how can people have a bad conscience after being told (in Reagan's first inaugural) that they are all heroes? And after being assured that all their desires, including desires for government-supplied entitlements, are good?"

Reading that, helps to explain this:

"We asked him three times to explain why President Bush and the Republican Congress have increased discretionary non-defense spending at such an alarming rate, and why the party has embraced the expansion of the federal government’s roles in education, agriculture and Great Society-era entitlement programs. “Those questions have been decided,” was his response. The public wants an expanded federal role in those areas, and the Republican Party at the highest levels has decided to give the public what it wants.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/975049/posts

[KoRn]

Wasn't implying an error on your part. Was thinking more of whoever the original web publisher was.

[GSlob]

Emphasizing the last two paragraphs by duplicating them into the four, would not make the point stronger. Besides, the main thrust of Reagan's analysis is weak: he very well knew how to frustrate the people's [of special interest variety] desires, starting from the air controllers' strike and continuing further.