The Real History of the Reagan Administration

(Nod to author Alan Axelrod, author of the Real History series, which has so far not taken on the Reagan years.)

This weekend there has been a great deal of rewriting history in re the Reagan administration. There is nothing wrong with admiring the man or his administration, as long as what you're admiring is what actually happened.

Let's look at a few facts:

• The highest postwar unemployment rate was during the Reagan administration, at 9.7 % in 1982. (It matched 2010's 9.6% in 1983.)
• Federal spending nearly doubled, from $590.9 billion in 1980 to $1.064 trillion in 1988, with an accompanying increase in debt from $711.9 billion (1980) to $2.052 trillion (1988).
• Reagan raised taxes 11 times during his administration.

So those who deify Reagan's fiscal record had best realize they are supporting high unemployment, vast increases in spending and debt, and raising taxes to cover it all.

Rather than look at the Reagan era through the rose-colored glasses of the "morning in America" ad campaign and his warm public persona, how about considering why those things happened during an administration that ostensibly wanted to decrease government and taxation? Rather than laud a myth-shrouded icon, how about analyzing why Reagan actually failed? There's a lot more opportunity in that for learning how to solve our problems than there is in rewriting history to make believe the problems didn't happen.

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