I am not a fan of Stephen Colbert. However, he hit the nail on the head earlier this week when he invited presidential candidate Ted Cruz on to the “Late Show”:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhmOGVirI1c&w=560&h=315]
Fast forward to the 6:00 minute mark. That’s something that we need to address. I’m not saying that Senator Cruz is incorrect in his assumptions on policy, but he and many others in this party are wrong about something.
Ronald Reagan, if running in the 2016 Republican field, would be obliterated.
Ronald Reagan was a great and complex man. He, Prime Minister Margret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II helped save the world from communism.
But today’s Republican Party would not nominate Reagan in 2016.
I can hear the comments from the cheap seats now: How dare that stupid RINO punk Matt Colt Hall soil the name of Ronald Reagan! We would nominate President Reagan for king of the world today! WE WOULD! TRUST US! REAGAN (with the help of Vice President Trump) COULD MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
No. The party would not nominate Reagan. He probably couldn’t get past Iowa.
First of all, in no uncertain terms, President Reagan raised taxes. He actually did this ELEVEN TIMES. This happened on multiple occasions in both terms.
Secondly, President Reagan passed an amnesty program. A program so large that took in 2.6 million people.
“In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which granted amnesty to 2.7 million undocumented immigrants who had arrived in the U.S. before 1982, had a clean record and registered with the Selective Service. Critics of the law, however, have pointed out that it failed to crack down on future waves of illegal immigration.”
President Reagan said this directly into the camera at a presidential debate in 1984.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBVX7vO7vyA&w=420&h=315]
Now lets just imagine if the word amnesty ever crossed Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, or Chris Christie’s mouth? What would happen? They would be immediately burned at the stake! Laura Ingraham would round-up the matches, Dave Brat would get the firewood, and Donald Trump would light the fire! No question about it, these candidates would never ever say the word amnesty in a positive way. It would destroy their career in campaign politics.
Third, President Reagan at one time stood up for the rights of the LGBT community in California. In 1978, there was a ballot measure that would have essentially allowed the California public school systems to fire someone based on their sexual orientation. The advocacy against this discriminatory ballot measure was made famous by Harvey Milk, famous LGBT activist of the 1970s. But there was a certain former Governor that came out strongly opposed to this measure, with no political capital to gain for it.
Two years before his famous presidential campaign, then-former Gov. Reagan publicly denounced Proposition 6 (better known as the Briggs Amendment). He stood by his beliefs and wrote op-eds in the Los Angeles paper against the measure.
I didn’t get this information from The Advocate or MSNBC. I got it from Breitbart.
Lastly, and most importantly, President Reagan actually spoke to, and halfway got along with, members of the opposite party.
In an op-ed to the New York Times, Tip O’Neil’s son, Thomas, outlined the relationship of the liberal Speaker and the conservative President.
“Historic tax reforms, seven tax increases, a strong united front that brought down the Soviet Union — all came of a commitment to find common ground. While neither man embraced the other’s worldview, each respected the other’s right to hold it. Each respected the other as a man.
President Reagan knew my father treasured Boston College, so he was the centerpiece of a dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel that raised $1 million to build the O’Neill Library there. When Reagan was shot at that same hotel, my father went to his hospital room to pray by his bed.
No, my father and Reagan weren’t close friends. Famously, after 6 p.m. on quite a few work days, they would sit down for drinks at the White House. But it wasn’t the drinks or the conversation that allowed American government to work. Instead, it was a stubborn refusal not to allow fund-raisers, activists, party platforms or ideological chasms to stand between them and actions — tempered and improved by compromise — that kept this country moving.”
Raised taxes, installed an amnesty program, campaigned on said amnesty program, advocated against the discrimination of the LGBT community, and actually worked with Democrats. What would happen if Ronald Reagan was running in 2016?
Donald Trump would call him so many names that it would make a sailor blush.
Republicans need to stop acting like all Republicans are right all the time. We need to stop acting like our friends in the Democratic Party are the agents of the devil. And we need to stop making our candidates swear on 96 bibles, 432 copies of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, and their lives, that they will never, ever, EVER comprise.
News flash y’all: it’s OK to compromise sometimes.
Now before you get out your garlic, crosses, and copy of Conscience of a Conservative, hear me out. I don’t want the core belief that government is greatest at its least to go out the window. I don’t want to throw away the idea that America could revive itself if government got out-of-the-way.
However, I do want to government to work. I want Republicans to stop acting like the two-year old who won’t share their Lincoln Logs! Congress is so petty and childish it needs a pre-school teacher to give a daily lesson in manners.
It’s time to work with our Democratic friends and govern. Republicans need to find common sense solutions that give each side a little of what it wants. And for God’s sake, stop making the terrible mistake of thinking the Democrats are the anti-Christ. They may not be as informed on fiscal policy, but they are God’s children, and we should treat them as such.
It’s time to drop the litmus tests. They have become so sensitive, so numerous, that even Reagan, and yes, even Barry Goldwater, would fail them.
It’s time for the 2016 field actually look to the solutions to make the future of America greater than it ever has been.
