"We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends—weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world—all while cynically waving the American flag."
~ President Ronald Reagan
Now admittedly, I am not a big fan of President Ronald Reagan. Nor do I normally turn to him for common sense or wisdom, or as a historical model which we should follow today, for that matter. Personally, I believe that he is highly overrated in terms of how he and his presidency are perceived. In fact, I am of the mind that a lot of what we see going wrong with the country today in fact had its roots during the Reagan years.
For the most part, I was just a kid during his long time in the White House. Yet, to the extent that I paid attention, I understood that my family were not fans. There were a few things that I was aware of, and that was that he really, really liked the military. Liked spending huge sums of money on it, and seemed to want the American military to get involved in regions throughout the world. The other thing was that the national debt began to skyrocket, although Republicans and Democrats played the blame game on that one.
Once I got older and my understanding of what he had done and represented developed, I began to understand why he was bad for the country. From firing the airline strikers to regularly busting unions to systematically championing tax breaks and incentives for the wealthiest Americans and giving corporations more power by popularizing deregulation to beginning the mocking and undermining of science (particularly regarding global warming/climate change) to illegal secretive dealings the world over (most infamously with the Iran-Contra scandal) to catering to white segregationists in the Deep South (particularly during a rally at Philadelphia, Mississippi) and effectively supporting the apartheid regime with "constructive engagement' and on and on. There was plenty to dislike about the Reagan years, although most Americans really did not want to give much more thought to it.
Still, Reagan was popular. Extremely popular, as a matter of fact. He became almost like a God among self-identified conservatives in the United States, and even elsewhere. Even once he was gone because of term limits, George W. Bush, his Vice-President, succeeded him. That meant twelve long years of what came to be known as Reaganomics.
As much as I did not like him, however, he seems positively leftist radical compared to today's Republican party. And while I felt that he benefited from being an actor and playing a role, he nevertheless feels like a dignified and classy statesman by way of contrast to what we have in the White House now.
This is not the first time I will express this sentiment. I'm guessing that it will not be the last time, either. But it bears repeating now. While I felt that Reagan was a step down for the United States, he was nothing compared with George W. Bush. Bill Clinton was a step down for the Democrats, for that matter. But none of them can really compare with the absolute shitshow that we are dealing with now.
Really, it just felt that there were actual standards in the past. It seems astonishing now to hear how politicians as conservative as Reagan and George H.W. Bush sound almost leftist or even radical by today's standards. That was the feeling that I got after watching a clip of them debating on the issue of immigration back during the 1980 presidential campaign.
That same feeling came back after reading the quote used above by Reagan, which was verified by Snopes. This is something which we should remember and keep in mind today, specifically, as Trump's tariffs on automobiles and automobile parts go into effect. Naturally, the countries affected are all outraged and preparing for retaliatory measures. None of this, obviously, would be good for our economy. Really, this is not going to be good for either the American economy, or the world economy more generally.
Yet, this is what Americans voted for. Many of them proudly.
It's a sad day when you begin to long for the liberal old days of Ronald Reagan or even George W. Bush, Jr., isn't it?
Did Ronald Reagan Warn Against 'Demagogues' Willing to Declare a Trade War Against America's Friends? by David Emery Published June 8, 2018:
During a 1988 radio address, President Reagan railed against those calling for trade tariffs and derided protectionism as "a cheap form of nationalism."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ronald-reagan-demagogues-trade-war/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJa-gRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc4TgA0NNOLD7EhQhByn8vr-K1gukElYE-oHpks9iIyxII3TW-7Gvp4nXw_aem_buSszbPtaFuVkre-xwtxlQ
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