That explosion in debt was caused by severely over-the-top military spending, one of the very few gripes I have with Reagan's presidency. It's funny how you use national debt to argue against Reagan, yet ignore national debt when it comes to Obama who has nearly tripled our national debt and, get this, accumulated more debt in his 7 years in office than EVERY other president combined from George Washington to George W. Bush. A consensus of economists agree that Sanders would only add to our current debt. So be consistent, if you're gonna knock Reagan for debt you gotta knock Obama and Sanders too