The Tea Party At Reagan's Hundredth

"They say they want to take “their” country back, but I’m trying to figure out what country that is because they seem to know little to nothing about America."

With the Reagan Centennial upon us, guess who is clamoring to own Reagan as patron saint of their movement? With Reagan’s profile highest among 20-21^st century Republican presidents teabaggers want to sidle up to his legacy for whatever association with Reagan they can get. You know who else is making the connection between Reagan and teabaggers? No one.

Those who were there in service to the Reagan Administration and/or who know their history are setting the record straight. They point out that Reagan was far more practical a president than today’s Tea Party would ever allow. While Reagan is remembered for lowering taxes, forgotten are the tax increases he was later obliged to put in place in response to the health of the economy. Reagan was well aware that tax hikes were as important to responsible fiscal policy as tax cuts. Somehow since Reagan, the Republican Party, and now the teabaggers have adopted the simple notion that you can just keep lowering taxes and call it a day. Given their uncompromising stance on taxes the Tea Party should have no love for Reagan and they would not if he was making his political ascendancy today.

It is interesting that teabaggers had nothing good to say about Obama’s 09 Stimulus bill, a third of which was made up of tax cuts. As a result, the income tax rate is currently at its lowest rates in 60 years. It goes without saying that they are lower than they were at any time Reagan was president. Yet teabaggers took to the streets in April 2010 to protest Obama’s tax hikes. They were in fact protesting fiction. If teabaggers were aware of reality they would save their energy for when necessity dictates the need for tax increases as the economy can not be sustained with constantly low levels of revenue. Ask Ronald Reagan.

What the teabaggers have right is that the rate of spending and the budget deficit are both at record highs now, but so were they under Reagan. It rings of hypocrisy that teabaggers are glomming on to the reputation of a highly regarded Republican in spite of his reputation for unprecedented government spending. It rings of peculiarity that teabaggers in looking back on presidential legacies have nothing to say about Democratic President Bill Clinton who presided over the largest budget surplus in U.S. history. It’s not what the teabaggers say they believe in that is infuriating; everyone is for fiscal responsibility. It is their double standard, angrily taking Obama to task for the same deeds they seem to be blissfully ignorant of in their idols like Ronald Reagan. It is also their arrogance. They say they want to take “their” country back, but I’m trying to figure out what country that is because they seem to know little to nothing about America.