The key word is coalition. Reagan was able to harmonize the low expectations of groups that had been marginalized. Social conservatives were largely satisfied not to be dismissed. The business community was happy to no longer be seen as a honey pot to be taxed to pay for more and bigger federal programs that annoyed the libertarians. Miltary proponents were glad no longer to be treated as necessary evils. After 28 years of influence, the immigration restrictionists and the social conservatives have replaced liberals as the group attacking the business community and expanding federal intrusions.
Half of the Reagan coalition is now the chief antagonist of the other half and Fred Thompson wasn’t near leader enough to placate the conflicts that grew out of a quarter century in power. I doubt Reagan was leader enough.

Your analysis only works for part of the business community that is affected by a crackdown in illegal immigration. But all of that can be offset by tax cuts anyway.
Thompson lost because there were too many Reagans in the race — they split the conservative vote.

Why do Republicans worship the false idol of Reagan? Is it because of the shame Nixon had as the first president forced into exile?
Reagan wasn’t a family man – in the 80′s his kids really wanted nothing to do with him. He rarely attended church [He said Ayn (Atheist) Rand's FOUNTAINHEAD was his favorite book, not the Bible]. He was known to care little for policy details.
How is spending trillions of dollars on risky military ventures conservative? Democrats have never proposed anything as expensive as Iraq in terms of payment schedule and real dollars. *Keep in mind that Social Security is a trust fund.
Actually, the national debt nearly tripled under Reagan. Bush II was even worse at vetoing Republican pet pork barrel projects.
The famous ‘Laffer’ curve that says lower tax rates increase government revenues has been proven false.
By the way, what did Reagan do for all the homeless Vietnam vets when Rambo was #1 at the box office? I’m sure a fair amount were put on the street along with other mentally ill people that were affected by government cuts.
MOST OF ALL, HOW IS THE PREFERENCE FOR THE RICH AS ESPOUSED IN SUPPLY SIDE ECONOMICS THE SAME AS THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

The new and noble mission for the GOP is to save our youth from the lascivious licentiousness, perversion, hedonism and debauchery and secular atheism of the Democrat social agenda that is truly killing them. Let us look for political leaders that do not bow at the alters of the LOGO channel, MTV and HBO. Let us show who and what cohabitates with the purveyors of Marxist atheism for what they truly are. There is a groundswell of feelings in our youth today that the older generations are just wrinkle and gray-hiding pederasts looking for their next young lover (Hollywood anyone?). If the GOP presented role models from the decent families that make up the majority of the Republican party, the youth of America, literally starving for mothers and fathers that love their children enough to actually raise them themselves, would come on board in numbers to big to hold a convention in a hotel.
By the way . . . who is Donald Reagan?

You know, Reagan was not someone I admired – at all. He created mythological stories of the poor and since his administration – we have little conscience about our involvement in creating poverty. We learned to turn a blind eye about that time and began to always look for “the other” to blame. However, in retrospect, he was a man who meant well. I think many took advantage of his good nature and as our environment was wasted, a whole generation of people grew who could compartmentalize their faith. A friend of mine is a good example – he simply refuses to acknowledge that Jesus had anything of worth to say about the poor and the outcast. He explains that Jesus “knew nothing of economics and if he had – his teaching would have been different.” Reminds me of Jefferson who carefully cut out all reference to miracles in his Bible. This administration and the last and the one before it and the one before that (Reagan) is filled with such compartmentalized minds. Want to love Jesus, but don’t want to do the hard work of loving even the unattractive among us – really don’t want to love the bigot, the mindless fundamentalist, the wealthy CEO – or the poor. What was it about that generation that needed “off the hook” of caring for the poor, of repenting of systemic racism and sexism? What is it the current generation that looks at us – old guys that we are – and is disgusted by our hypocrisy. I often ask my students – what about your parents’ moral attitudes embarrasses you? Then I ask them – what about your moral attitudes will embarrass your children? My mother-in-law – God rest her soul – was racist to the core of her being – she simply could not leap beyond that place. My mother – only a few years younger – not only made that leap, but made sure her children understood the wrongs that surrounded them in their southern world. I think we are all blind to our political idols – for some that would be Reagan and for others it might be Clinton or Bush or Clinton or Bush etc. They are mirrors for our blindness. Guess I keep hoping for something more. Perhaps expecting political leaders to be religious leaders is the idolatry that we have all fallen into. They are not – they are just ordinary human beings with attitudes like ours. We must all be converted toward the Kingdom of God (for Christians), to “Islam” if you are Muslim, to whatever ideal of goodness we can extract from our experience, our scriptures, our history. There is no King Arthur or Round Table out there to save us from ourselves. We must do it – one heart at a time.

Brian, thank you for the opportunity to use my degree in economics. The Laffer curve hasn’t been disproven, but it’s message is more nuanced than people admit. Laffer didn’t claim that at any level of taxation lower rates would increase revenue, he drew the curve on a napkin to hypothesize that at some rates of taxation, revenues would increase by lowering the tax rate. Why this matters is two fold: First, Democrats who believe that tax revenue can be raised by increasing rates may be wrong and have been. Second, Republicans who believe that revenue can be raised by lowering rates might be wrong and have been. You’re right, though, in Reagan’s case: Ballooning deficits resulted from his guess as to where we were on the Laffer curve.
You’re welcome.
Donny, we thought you were.

David:
Ockham’s Razor … in this case, the most obvious explanation makes the most sense.
Donny:
With palpable irony, the only hotels large enough to hold a “moral youth” convention of any size to make a difference would be in … Las Vegas ;-P

PS — Donald REGAN was Reagan’s so-so Treasury Secretary in his first term and the disastrous “job-switch” Chief of Staff (James Baker changed to the Treasury) in the second term who presided over a White House run amok with Iran-Contra.

TO THINKER (There is no King Arthur or Round Table out there to save us from ourselves. We must do it – one heart at a time.) & DOUG (See Laffer Curve).
THINKER, I’M NOT A FAN OF CLINTON. CARTER WAS BAD, BUT PROBABLY MORE HONEST. AT LEAST HE’S WORKING FOR PEACE AND THE POOR.
I THINK YOU BOTH HAD REASONABLE RESPONSES TO MY INITIAL POST. I ENJOY REPUBLICAN BLOGS & EVEN THINK THAT THERE ARE THOUGHTFUL REPUBLICANS (perhaps your political stripes aren’t Republican).
IT IS CURIOUS THOUGH, I CAN’T GET RESPONSES ON BUSH/CHENEY INC. & THEIR HORRIBLE IRAQ BUSINESS VENTURE (How does that align with conservatism or Christianity)
REPUBLICANS IGNORE THIS AT THEIR OWN PERIL BECAUSE IT’S GONNA COME UP IN THE GENERAL ELECTION. IF THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE REPUBLICAN BRANCHES COULDN’T WATCH A WEATHER FORECAST BEFORE ‘KATRINA’ OR CNN AFTER, HOW ARE THEY GONNA PROTECT US FROM THE TERRORIST THREAT THEY CONSTANTLY REMIND US ABOUT?
my initial post:
Why do Republicans worship the false idol of Reagan? Is it because of the shame Nixon had as the first president forced into exile?
Reagan wasn’t a family man – in the 80′s his kids really wanted nothing to do with him. He rarely attended church [He said Ayn (Atheist) Rand's FOUNTAINHEAD was his favorite book, not the Bible]. He was known to care little for policy details.
How is spending trillions of dollars on risky military ventures conservative? Democrats have never proposed anything as expensive as Iraq in terms of payment schedule and real dollars. *Keep in mind that Social Security is a trust fund.
Actually, the national debt nearly tripled under Reagan. Bush II was even worse at vetoing Republican pet pork barrel projects.
The famous ‘Laffer’ curve that says lower tax rates increase government revenues has been proven false.
By the way, what did Reagan do for all the homeless Vietnam vets when Rambo was #1 at the box office? I’m sure a fair amount were put on the street along with other mentally ill people that were affected by government cuts.
MOST OF ALL, HOW IS THE PREFERENCE FOR THE RICH AS ESPOUSED IN SUPPLY SIDE ECONOMICS THE SAME AS THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

Well, Brian, perhaps you might realize that I am not a conservative nor a Republican. Neither / Nada and this war is the single biggest obscenity and llie perpetuated on this country in my lifetime – Viet Nam being a close second, the savings and loan crisis of the Reagan years being a distant third. Looks like the Bush houseing crisis and upcoming financial upheaval will be fourth and then is course there is the Bush assult on the Bill of Rights and Constitution – we’re gonna live to regret that. It’ll take quite a while to weed out the bureaucrats who will allow such assaults to continue. My friends in England consider us something of a fascist state. So perhaps the good will of the world squandered by this administration with incompetence, bad manners and a general air of triumphalism without cause will be yet another reason we will look back in shame. Anything I missed Brian? This is not a conservative site – it is a religious/ political one and is filled with good people all along the spectrum of both disciplines. It is at least interesting and at best – rather inspiring to be able to talk to people with which I think I must have huge disagreement ad find that we are on the same page in many ways.
We will live for the rest of our lives in regret that we did not stand up and impeach them. But I am having one of my nice days so I called them “them” instead of the usual rather obscenity laced end of sentence.

brian, it supply side economics is entirely different from the sermon on the mount, because one describes how people should live in compassion and humility and the other is a macroeconomic theory.

and since Thinker outer herself, I am pretty conservative and not at all Republican. I agree with Thinker that Bush/Cheney has been a catastrophe, especially morally.

Wonder how someone with Thompson’s ideals and Huckabee’s personality would fare?
Steve

Hi Doug,
Sorry to jump in like this but its the only way I have to reach you. Have you seen Dreher’s Crunchy Con blog called A New Economic Era? It goes along with what we were discussing here the other evening.
Hope your trip is going well.
My apologies to David and others for the intrusion….
BTW, has anyone seen the report released today by the Center for Public Integrity and a group of journalists who report that Bush lied 935 times in the 2 years before the war? I think he managed to surpass Reagan, Baker, Ollie North, Poindexter, ….

PatientWitness, thanks for the tip. Anytime you want to reach me, my email is dpascover at mac dot com.
I just left a California Assembly Subcomittee hearing on MediCal reductions so a discussion of trade and economics seems almost risqué.

OK – so Bush/Cheney is easy – lied, actively destroying the Constitution – we can all gather on that bandwagon and feel great – just great – about having seen it from the beginning (I did) and never trusting them (I haven’t) and we can just feel like great citizens for finding the demons and casting them out.
However, as a good Girardian kind of thinker (Can’t believe I actually got that into a semi-sentence) – I know that we can all claim victimhood and thus scapegoat the obvious – those who still believe that Bush is a terrific president – those who have made lots of money on a war predicated on untruth – those who destroy our social fabric in the medical system – those who have used my Christian faith to destroy others- need I go on. Can’t even describe an opposition without accusations of the almost demonic.
As a good mimetic thinker I realize something else – claiming my persecutor status – recognizing that within me that I absolutely want to create victims of Bush and his bunch (I don’t even like Barney and we’ve had Scotties for years). All the Republicans are busy distancing themselves from him and his ideas. The Dems have an amazing amount of material to work with, but the cartoon dramas of debates and 24/7 news cycles and pundits – well – it’s getting to the point that all of us need to take a shower and clean up from this cesspool we call politics.
How do we come together for he common good? How do we elect officials without destroying the dignity of all concerned? How do we educate a citizenry that now believes the stuff circulated in emails and has little ability to get to the center of issues – rather gather around the “sexy” stuff like scandals and the possibility of a “fight” between Hilary and Barack. We are all the problem. Bush / cheney is our symptom and if we are not careful and learn to look within – we’ll get the government we deserve instead of the one we dream can happen. It isn’t about winning this election – it had better be about all of us becoming citizens of spirit and truth. Those who know me – we’ve got to “bear the burden of being displeasing to ourselves”.

Sorry, to hog the blog – new phrase we will use again
But, if you missed “The Colbert Report” last night – you missed one of the great moral moments on TV. I”m serious. Go to the appropriate site and watch as much as you can. The last three segments were beyond genius. Andrew Young just – without directing it toward too many – gave us the solutions to what ails us.
Those of you who do not know – Stephen Colbert is the youngest of 10 children. When he was very young his father and two brothers were killed in a plane crash. Knowing that makes the segments that much more poignant.

Thinker, I absolutely agree. To be honest, the sense of victimhood after September whatever is how a lot of us justified letting our persecutorial side run free. I’ll see if I can see the Colbert segments.

“OK – so Bush/Cheney is easy – lied, actively destroying the Constitution – we can all gather on that bandwagon and feel great – just great – about having seen it from the beginning (I did) and never trusting them (I haven’t) and we can just feel like great citizens for finding the demons and casting them out.”
Thinker, nice presentation but only 50% decent. Seeing what Cheney’s daughter is, and has done, I agree with your assessment about casting out demons. She needs help, and an exorcism seems needed. By their fruit you shall know them, and in the case of the Cheney’s the apple didn’t fall far from the bio-daddy. Bush on the other hand, he has tried to rid the world of the most psychotic murderers earth has seen since the Nazi’s took over Germany (and the Democrat party) and Roe v Wade opened abortion mills. Go with Cheney, and you get a gold star, but G.W. has tried to make the world a better place. Even his position on marriage the way Jesus taught it, is admirable. But it’s nice to see you grasping a moral truth. You’re half way to becoming a better person by embracing conservative values.

The sins of the fathers are the sins of the daughters, eh, Donny?