What Would Reagan Do?

"I'm certainly not going to try to appropriate Reagan as an antiwar icon; his record puts the lie to that. Yet, despite several unfortunate interventions – and the blowback those interventions nourished – Reagan's record also gives the lie to his appropriation by the neocons. For while they shriek of awful tomorrows that can only be avoided by sacrificing freedom for power, Reagan spoke calmly and confidently of the better days to come if only we believed in the power of freedom. The man had his shortcomings, to be sure, but his successors – especially the last two – have made him look like a giant. As Tom Engelhardt at the leftist Nation Institute put it, summarizing exactly what libertarians should be saying:

"At least Reagan promised a new 'morning in America' (whatever he actually delivered). It's striking that the Bush administration in its speeches promises only a drumbeat of fear, terror, and war to eternity.". . .

And while we're imagining things, can you picture Reagan's ostensible heir, George W. Bush, extemporaneously invoking Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Frederic Bastiat? More importantly, can you imagine Dubya handling the (grossly inflated) Soviet threat back in the '80s? The Earth would be pockmarked with nuclear craters from Moscow to Miami. . . .
Yes, he had his faults – plenty of 'em – but he was far different from the gang that has claimed his mantle since. As he said in that '92 speech, "Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence, not to your doubts."