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Remembering Ronald Reagan's Birthday
By Grover G. Norquist, For The Bulletin
February 6 is Ronald Reagan’s birthday.
As Congress flails around trying to decide what to do because the stock market is down and the economy has slowed and unemployment is now 7.2 percent, it is helpful to look back at the challenges that faced America in 1981 and how president Reagan faced them.
When Jimmy Carter left the White House, inflation was 11.8 percent. Unemployment was stuck during his four year term at between seven and eight percent. Interest rates increased from 7.1 percent in 1977 to 20 percent by the beginning of January 1981. Japan was viewed as the model for economic growth. The Soviet Union and its empire were on the march occupying Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and adding colonies in Nicaragua in Central America and Angola, Mozambique and Ethiopia in Africa. Iran held American hostages.
Reagan realized that many of our problems were created by Government. Inflation was caused by the government spending too much money and printing too much money. Low growth and unemployment was a result of income tax rates on individuals as high as 70 percent and on businesses as high as 50 percent. Reagan cut marginal income taxes from 70 percent to 28 percent in two tax reforms in 1981 and 1986.
Nearly 4 million jobs were created in 1983 alone. During his presidency, 16 million jobs were created and today we have 44.5 million more employed Americans than we did in 1981.
Inflation fell from more than 10 percent when Reagan took office to 3.85 percent in 2008. Few Americans now remember the ravages of inflation in the 1970s.
On foreign policy Reagan built the military strength of America without promiscuously involving America in the civil wars of other nations or trying to be a Roman Empire insisting that everyone else’s government look like ours.
A strong America not embroiled in occupying Third World nations soared past the Soviet Union economically, neutered it militarily and watched the Soviet Empire break into 12 pieces. Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and the Ukraine regained their independence from Moscow.
Reagan defeated and scattered the Soviet Union without ever taking his eye off the wellbeing of America and wrestling our own government to loosen its grip on American liberty.
After his presidency, his writings were published and we learned that he wrote and read more than other presidents and most men. The critics who said his straightforward solutions to America’s challenges were too simplistic were wrong. If the government is spending too much, spend less. If tax rates are too high, reduce them. If the government is printing too much money, print less. If your enemies threaten you, be stronger than they are. Simple. Serious. And Reagan changed the world.
Following the 2006 and 2008 elections Republicans are calling for their leaders and party to return to the values, principles and consistency of Ronald Reagan. Critics suggest that this is backward looking. But Reagan Republicanism is a commitment to the timeless principles of limited government and individual liberty. A party separated from principle is merely a conspiracy to seize power.
America is a nation dedicated to the idea that men and women should be free to live their own lives, practice their own faith and choose the course for their lives that pleases them—not the state. We are one in our commitment to freedom and the only way to be free is to have a limited government that protects life and property from criminals and foreign powers but otherwise leaves us alone. We are not one race or one religion or one tribe or clan.
Our unity is our commitment to our freedom. Today we celebrate a very American life. One that was dedicated to maintaining and strengthening American liberty. The life of Ronald Reagan.
We often hear individuals talk about “giving something back.” This always confuses me. The only people who have to give something back are pickpockets and shoplifters. Entrepreneurs and businessmen and woman, workers and professionals who give service for payment have not “taken” anything. No one gave you your salary — you earned it. No one gave you your home — you earned it and paid for it.
But Reagan did understand that there is something we have not earned ourselves—the liberty we enjoy and the Constitution that helps protect that liberty. Men and women who came before us and fought in the Revolutionary War and wrote the Constitution and those who served in the military to protect our nation and Constitution all gave us our freedom. We can follow the example of Ronald Reagan and “give something back.” By working to limit the cost and size and intrusiveness of government and to expand human freedom through our own actions and lives.
Our liberty is an unbought grace and Ronald Reagan showed us how a life can be lived to “give back” to future generations the liberty our forefathers bequeathed to us.
Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform.
As Congress flails around trying to decide what to do because the stock market is down and the economy has slowed and unemployment is now 7.2 percent, it is helpful to look back at the challenges that faced America in 1981 and how president Reagan faced them.
When Jimmy Carter left the White House, inflation was 11.8 percent. Unemployment was stuck during his four year term at between seven and eight percent. Interest rates increased from 7.1 percent in 1977 to 20 percent by the beginning of January 1981. Japan was viewed as the model for economic growth. The Soviet Union and its empire were on the march occupying Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and adding colonies in Nicaragua in Central America and Angola, Mozambique and Ethiopia in Africa. Iran held American hostages.
Reagan realized that many of our problems were created by Government. Inflation was caused by the government spending too much money and printing too much money. Low growth and unemployment was a result of income tax rates on individuals as high as 70 percent and on businesses as high as 50 percent. Reagan cut marginal income taxes from 70 percent to 28 percent in two tax reforms in 1981 and 1986.
Nearly 4 million jobs were created in 1983 alone. During his presidency, 16 million jobs were created and today we have 44.5 million more employed Americans than we did in 1981.
Inflation fell from more than 10 percent when Reagan took office to 3.85 percent in 2008. Few Americans now remember the ravages of inflation in the 1970s.
On foreign policy Reagan built the military strength of America without promiscuously involving America in the civil wars of other nations or trying to be a Roman Empire insisting that everyone else’s government look like ours.
A strong America not embroiled in occupying Third World nations soared past the Soviet Union economically, neutered it militarily and watched the Soviet Empire break into 12 pieces. Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and the Ukraine regained their independence from Moscow.
Reagan defeated and scattered the Soviet Union without ever taking his eye off the wellbeing of America and wrestling our own government to loosen its grip on American liberty.
After his presidency, his writings were published and we learned that he wrote and read more than other presidents and most men. The critics who said his straightforward solutions to America’s challenges were too simplistic were wrong. If the government is spending too much, spend less. If tax rates are too high, reduce them. If the government is printing too much money, print less. If your enemies threaten you, be stronger than they are. Simple. Serious. And Reagan changed the world.
Following the 2006 and 2008 elections Republicans are calling for their leaders and party to return to the values, principles and consistency of Ronald Reagan. Critics suggest that this is backward looking. But Reagan Republicanism is a commitment to the timeless principles of limited government and individual liberty. A party separated from principle is merely a conspiracy to seize power.
America is a nation dedicated to the idea that men and women should be free to live their own lives, practice their own faith and choose the course for their lives that pleases them—not the state. We are one in our commitment to freedom and the only way to be free is to have a limited government that protects life and property from criminals and foreign powers but otherwise leaves us alone. We are not one race or one religion or one tribe or clan.
Our unity is our commitment to our freedom. Today we celebrate a very American life. One that was dedicated to maintaining and strengthening American liberty. The life of Ronald Reagan.
We often hear individuals talk about “giving something back.” This always confuses me. The only people who have to give something back are pickpockets and shoplifters. Entrepreneurs and businessmen and woman, workers and professionals who give service for payment have not “taken” anything. No one gave you your salary — you earned it. No one gave you your home — you earned it and paid for it.
But Reagan did understand that there is something we have not earned ourselves—the liberty we enjoy and the Constitution that helps protect that liberty. Men and women who came before us and fought in the Revolutionary War and wrote the Constitution and those who served in the military to protect our nation and Constitution all gave us our freedom. We can follow the example of Ronald Reagan and “give something back.” By working to limit the cost and size and intrusiveness of government and to expand human freedom through our own actions and lives.
Our liberty is an unbought grace and Ronald Reagan showed us how a life can be lived to “give back” to future generations the liberty our forefathers bequeathed to us.
Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform.
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