Reagan:
Pros:
-[b]He introduced[/b] "[b]Reaganomics[/b]," which was an economic movement, causing the across-the-board tax cuts to the private sector.
-[b]He encouraged the deregulation of state policies[/b], in which state powers were given more civil authority.
-[b]He decreased domestic spending restraints[/b], helping fuel an economic boom that lasted a little less than two decades.
-[b]He lowered the unemployment rate[/b] from 19.99% at the beginning of his campaign to 9.72% at the end of his term in office.
-[b]He revived the GOP[/b] (the Grand Old Party) with his free-market, small-government, pro-liberty conservatism even after the GOP's fall from the watergate affair during President Nixon's administration.
-[b]He promoted fiscal conservatives[/b], family-value voters, blue-collar Reagan Democrats, and neo-conservative intellectuals.
-[b]He rebuilt the U.S. military[/b], which was diminished by President Carter in 1977 for financial concerns but at a defense cost.
-[b]He signed the[/b] Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces ([b]INF[/b]) treaty [b]and the[/b] Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ([b]START[/b]) [b]with[/b] Soviet leader [b]Mikhail Gorbache[/b]v eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons, which reduced both countries’ arsenals of nuclear weapons.
-[b]He supported pro-life activists and family-values movements[/b] that sought to counter the societal upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.
-[b]He demanded[/b] Gorbachev [b]to [/b]"[b]Tear down this wall[/b]," that separated Free Germany from Communist Germany.
-[b]He got a second term[/b] (that's a pro because the American populous saw him as something worth having as another President).
Cons (or more pros, depending on how you see it):
-[b]He increased defense spending[/b] by a little more than 40% in order to return America as a world reckoning superpower up to par with (or even better than) the Soviet Union.
-[b]He had a second term[/b] (that's a con because no President has ever had a better term than his first).
-[b]He increased our deficit [/b]dramatically (like the other Presidents did any better)
True Story:
I had a dad, who was not the best of examples, but I know he tried his best to run and provide a family with what God allowed him. He wasn't always happy, or even in a state of extreme joy. He got depressed and sometimes drank, but he never stopped working, and he remained with my mom no matter how high there arguments grew.
He taught me my ethics, or he at least attempted to, but he never knew when there was a time to stop talking and a time to express as much as one should. His funniest states was when he was drunk. He wasn't abusive in that condition, but he ended up being in a state of extreme ecstasy, saying, "God son I love you. *stumbles into his chair* You hear...boy?" as he petted me with his bear-like hands.[spoiler]I didn't know I had a name until I was 10.[/spoiler]There were many frustrating and aggravating moments that I had against him, but no matter how hard it was to live with him, I loved him dearly.
The point that I'm trying to make is that the popularity or love that one has for a person shouldn't be dependent upon their financial success or their believing the correct philosophy in every area of life: religious, political, or economic. Ask, "Were their intentions true, honest, and unselfish?" If yes, that's not only a good President, but an exemplary person.
I would vote for a Reagan-like President if I was ever given the chance.
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He committed treason. /thread