Reagan Reverence

Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, is revered amongst the current Republican Party.  His name is spoken in worshipful tones.  He was their star achiever, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes.  He is a saint in many eyes.

So why they be dissin’ him, homey?

OK, no one is actually dissing him.  But they are ignoring what made him popular.

We’re less than a month out from the 2012 Presidential election.  The Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, lost.  Now the Republican Party is throwing him under the bus as a “bad candidate.”

OK, he didn’t have the charisma Reagan had.  He didn’t have a positive “Morning In America” message like Reagan did. He made that dumb remark about the 47%.  But what he really didn’t have was Reagan’s common sense on social issues.

Ignore them.

What was Reagan know for?  Reaganomics.  Not abortion.  Not gays (he actually was quite moderate on gay rights).  During the presidential campaign, questions were raised by reporters on Reagan's stance on the Briggs Initiative, also known as Proposition 6, a ballot initiative in Reagan's home state of California where he was governor, which would have banned gays, lesbians, and supporters of LGBT rights from working in public schools in California.  His opposition to the initiative was instrumental in its landslide defeat by Californian voters.  Reagan published an editorial in which he stated "homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles..." and that prevailing scientific opinion was that a child's sexual orientation cannot be influenced by someone else.

The demographics are against being a party of old, white men.  The younger, darker and ovary-enabled population is growing and voting.  If the Republican Party wants to survive, they are going to have to remember what their beloved Ronald Reagan stood for…and what he didn’t.