St. Ronald of Reagan arguably is the greatest man of flesh and blood who ever walked the earth. However, as difficult as it is, we must choose his greatest legacy to us.
It was St. Ronald that first established the GOP foreign policy paradigm: appease terrorists at all costs. Pay them tribute (money, economic concessions), accede to all their demands, provide them with weapons. But most importantly, act tough on TV and on talk radio. The current GOP foreign policy of getting an obese draft dodger to say nice things about you on the radio while caving into every demand of those who killed thousands of Americans owes its legacy to none other than St. Ronald of Reagan.
The $500 billion plus in 'liqudity injections' to banks recently (we civlized, serious people eschew the use of such words as 'bailout') surely owes something to St. Ronald's decision to use taxpayer money to bailout millionaire (there were few billionaires back then!) investors in Continental Illinois Bank.
Ah, taxpayer funds. St. Ronald loved that. The 1983 tax increase is still the largest tax hike in the history of the universe. St. Ronald's 1986 tax increase (larger than anything save the 1983 increase) also had retroactive features to get at those 'Gucci cowboys' that Jerry Falwell found immoral.
Despite these tax hikes, St. Ronald managed to increae the national debt to record levels.
Let us decide on the Greatest Gift to us from the most Greatest American.