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All of this has been airbrushed from the new literature of Reagan. But as any balanced account must make clear, Reagan acceded to political compromises as all presidents do once in office--and on many occasions did so willingly. In fact, however often unintentionally, many of his actions as president wound up facilitating liberal objectives. What this clamor of adulation is seeking to deny is that beyond his conservative legacy, Ronald Reagan has bequeathed a liberal one.

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Reagan's Liberal Legacy

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[ 22 January 2003: Message edited by: clockwork ]

Dubya is saying, "If I can't get 100% of what I want this year, I'll simply grab it and not care about how many people I cheese off."

Even though Reagan backed off from the Third Rail of Social Security, et cetera, it is true that in Reagan's time, spending on social services and basic infrastructure began to fall off to make room for military spending.

As for the '86 Tax Reform Act, to call it "progressive" is laughable. It lowered the top tax rate from 50% to 26%. So from the time Reagan came in in '81, the top rate was lowered from 70% to 26%. Progressive indeed. And the EITC only really had an effect after Clinton expanded it in '93.