| By Kay Steiger - Nov 18th, 2007 at 9:27 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
In today's sceney the-state-of-young-conservatism-today piece in the WaPo, there was no shortage of glowing praise for that eternal conservative flame: Ronald Reagan. Campus Progress recently examined the fixation groups like Young America's Foundation have with the old Gipper. What's aways incomprehensible to me is that when you compare the two conservative two-term presidents we've had, Bush and Reagan, Bush seems to be far to the right of Reagan. Bush exploded the deficit more, fought a real war in the name of democracy, actually legislated a chip on Roe v. Wade, and has done a better job of putting toe-the-line conservatives in high positions. So why is Bush so absent among the rosy speeches that young conservatives make?
Is it just that Bush is that unpopular, even among the youth? Possibly, but I think the real thing here is that we're witnessing is the fundamental problem with conservatism in practice. At the core of their ideology, conservatives believe that the best of life and politics was in the past. First, they tried to hark back to the 1950s and early '60s. Now, it's the '80s. I've no doubt Bush will be elevated to such a position, but his time has not yet come. He's too fresh. Soon enough, though, conservatives will begin to gloss over Bush's errors and hail him as the last man that truly fought for conservatism. Too bad he's not there yet; he could really use the ratings.
!
Comments are closed for this post.
Also, Reagan is highly respected among conservatives because many attribute the end of the Cold War to him (despite the fact that the Wall and the SU came down during HW Bush's presidency). After a decade of cooling down tension, Reagan's in-your-face approach was what the country (at least conservatives in the country) were looking for.
Reagan was also a much better speaker than our current President.
However, the biggest impact Reagan had on the United States is his ability to drag both parties towards the Right. I guess it's more of a chicken-egg situation: did he drag the country towards the Right or did the country as a whole move to the Right and influenced future policies. Many feel that the current Congress is kowtowing to the Bush Administration because of whatever reasons, but it really is a 30-year trend of choosing a more moderate stance rather than liberal let alone progressive stance on many pieces of legislation and public policy in general.
For ending the Cold War and moving both parties toward the Right, conservatives all across the United States are forever indebted to former President Reagan.