Ronald Reagan: The Bad and the Ugly

http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/ronald-reagan-the-bad-and-the/

Ronald Reagan’s death, as with the death of any president, prompted the question of how he’d be considered within history. The present proximity of his life and his presidency produce an impartial answer to this question tough, but the positive likelihood is that he will ultimately be regarded one of the best presidents in American history.

The article I selected was written during the week of his passing, and the writer heavily criticises Reagan’s time in the White House. The title “The Bad and the Ugly” implies that there are only negative things to say about what Reagan did for his country. Starting with Reagan’s economic policy “Reaganomics” which was prompted by him during the 80s, the blogger mocks his four pillars of Reagan’s economic policy. These were: reducing government spending increase, reduce income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation of economy and control money supple to reduce inflation. Although he believed to have a clear vision for this system, the plan eventually flopped because to endorse these objectives there would have been a reduction in the budgets for entitlement programs which could be considered “political suicide.”

Whilst I can concur with some of the above points, I have to disagree with the mental health system act. Reagan did not kick mentally people out on the street. The Medicare system has been a struggle for most Presidents; the article only scrutinizes Reagan for this but he is not unique in being unable to tackle one of the many complex problems in America. 

The majority of Americans believe Reagan to be a man of principle, regardless of what else the minority may think of him. The article displays examples of how he acted on his principles and that he had a principled ideology but neglected to follow through.