I have many relatives that would agree with Arnie, also many of whom have left the Republican Party as result of the move right he highlights. The main difference they did that under Reagan as they saw the writing on the wall thirty years ago.
I lost count how many times he mentioned Reagan in his LA TimesOp-Ed, but the one thing he forgot was that Reagan opened his arms to the extreme right, most significantly he opened it up to the evangelical frothing at the mouth brigade. He gave the forerunners of the "tea party" a powerful platform. He however gets one thing almost spot on
As president, Reagan worked very well with Democrats to do big things. It is true that he worked to reduce the size of government and cut federal taxes and he eliminated many regulations, but he also raised taxes when necessary. In 1983, he doubled the gas tax to pay for highway infrastructure improvements.
Today, that would be enough for some of the ideological enforcers to start looking for a "real" conservative to challenge him in a primary.
What he forgets is that Reagan would lose, St Ronnie has about as much relevance to the modern GOP as Arlen Specter. He also neglects to mention a major flaw in another of his heroes Richard Nixon that ended in impeachment. However he does highlight some of the reality:
Teddy Roosevelt is still a hero among environmentalists for his conservationist policies. Dwight Eisenhower believed in the value of investing in infrastructure, and we can thank him for our highway system. Nixon, who originally attracted me to the party, nearly passed universal healthcare. He also created the national Environmental Protection Agency, which some modern Republicans want to close down.
Poor Arnie you should have seen the writing on the wall with Reagan, but at least you are stubborn enough to keep on fighting, but the fact that you have already lost makes you deluded.
It's time to stop thinking of the Republican Party as an exclusive club where your ideological card is checked at the door, and start thinking about how we can attract more solution-based leaders like Nathan Fletcher and Anthony Adams.
Two words
Grover Norquist.
The rest, for your party's financial backers is irrelevant.