Once upon a time, there were two great superpowers on Earth. There was the Union of Soviet Socialist "Republics," (USSR), a.k.a. the Soviet Union, and there was the USA.
The USSR was controlled from Moscow by the leaders of its Communist Party, with an iron grip over the official Soviet "republics" of Russia at the others, and the Eastern European puppet governments of East Germany and such. It was a massive land expanse all under the control of the elite Soviet men.
A "cold war" existed between the Soviets and free nations such as the USA and UK, with global nuclear war presented a serious and eminent threat.
The USA had series of Presidents as follows:
FDR - A Big Government Democrat who expanded the federal government enormously. Most terms of any President.
Harry Truman - First became President with the death of FDR, as he was FDR's last VP. A Democrat who pushed for the United Nations and national health insurance.
The USSR was controlled from Moscow by the leaders of its Communist Party, with an iron grip over the official Soviet "republics" of Russia at the others, and the Eastern European puppet governments of East Germany and such. It was a massive land expanse all under the control of the elite Soviet men.
A "cold war" existed between the Soviets and free nations such as the USA and UK, with global nuclear war presented a serious and eminent threat.
The USA had series of Presidents as follows:
FDR - A Big Government Democrat who expanded the federal government enormously. Most terms of any President.
Harry Truman - First became President with the death of FDR, as he was FDR's last VP. A Democrat who pushed for the United Nations and national health insurance.
Dwight Eisenhower - Republican who did not make limiting government a driver of his campaign or Presidency. He'd been a successful WWII General.
JFK - Democrat. While some of his positions sound downright conservative today, since he was a young, handsome, well-spoken, charismatic Democrat who apparently won a public standoff with the Soviets (the Cuban Missile Crisis) and was assassinated, he has been revered to this day. He had been Senator.
LBJ - Democrat who pushed for the Great Society government expansion after first serving as VP under JFK.
LBJ - Democrat who pushed for the Great Society government expansion after first serving as VP under JFK.
Richard Nixon - Republican who ended the gold standard, set some price controls, ushered in the EPA, and did not make limiting government a driver of his campaigns or Presidency. He had a long political history, including having been VP.
Gerald Ford - Republican who basically prostrated himself in the wake of Nixon's resignation. He'd been in Congress and then VP under Nixon. He did not make limiting government a driver of his time in office.
Jimmy Carter - Democrat who continued to increase the size and powers of government. Americans were basically told to accept higher energy prices, and by this time more and more on the Left were accepting the Soviet Union and its control over Eastern Europe as permanent and just another, valid way of governing. Carter had been Governor of Georgia.
Then there was the election of 1980.
Of course the Left and partisan Democrats wanted Carter to win a second term over any Republican.
The Republican nomination came down to two choices: Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Bush was much like the other recent Republican Presidents. He had been in government forever and was milquetoast. He'd "waited his turn." Reagan was a "cowboy" who had served as Governor of California, interrupting the Brown Democrat Dynasty, but had been out of office since early 1975 and had no other political experience. He spoke about limiting government, government often being the problem. With talk like that, the Left wasn't going to be able to push through to nationalized health for all and all sorts of new federal governments they claim to be birthrights. He took a stance of being aggressive in defending liberty against the Soviets, and unreservedly claimed we were the good guys and the commies were the bad guys.
He cut taxes and built up the military. A terrible economy recovered well under Reagan.
What Reagan did was ruin what they saw as a great march to globalist progressivism. He revived modern conservatism and patriotism, unashamedly touting the benefits of capitalism and private industry. He lead a revival of our country.
They predicted Reagan was going to lead us into war and nuclear annihilation. Instead, his policies and collaboration with UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II lead to the collapse of the Soviet empire and new freedoms for a significant portion of the world and renewed strength and leadership for the USA.
Yes, it's true, he didn't drop everything and overhaul the organization of the federal government and spending to try to eliminate a negative consequence of the entirely voluntary activities of bloody and rough anal sex with strangers, and sharing recreational drug needles.
And he wasn't perfect. No President is flawless.
But what he did was ruin "everything" for the Left and certain political cultists, and so to this day they hate him with a passion.
He was one of our greatest Presidents.
The Gipper
