As I listen to Republicans yell and scream about smaller government, balanced federal budgets, and lower taxes, I began to wonder when any Republican president ever balanced the budget. I know that Republicans have deified Reagan, holding up his presidency as the Holy Grail of conservatism and fiscal responsibility. But they know, as well as the general public knows, that this is all malarcky. As a kid of the 1980s, I don't recall Reagan's presidency being all that great.
As a matter of fact, I'm the child of a Vietnam veteran and a school cafeteria lady. Reagan's cuts to domestic funding for veterans and his trickle down economic policies were devastating to my family, and thousands of others like my family across America. He grew government, and increased the deficit to astounding proportions, the likes of which the world had never seen. However, through it all, he kept saying he believed in smaller government and lower taxes for all without actually implementing those beliefs.
My curiosity about the discrepancy between Republican rhetoric and the way they actually govern led me to a wild google search for the last Republican president to actually practice what he preached. That man, who is never mentioned by today's crazy, ubher-Right Wing, TEA Party Driven, birther infiltrated Republican Party was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Yes, the last Republican to actually shrink government and balance the budget served when my mother was a toddler, from 1953-1961. As a leader, Eisenhower was a Republican's dream....A five-star general, a southerner, and former supreme NATO commander.
After reading several academic articles in Foreign Policy Magazine, and all of the valid google articles I could find, I wonder why more Republicans do not celebrate the fiscal genius of old Ike. It's probably because as a general and commander of the armed forces, Ike knew that no army can survive without the well-being of its foot soldiers. Yes, Ike did balance budget while avoiding killing job creation and overly-taxing the rich, and without making the poor and disadvantaged carry the entire country. Ike, though hesitant and conservative concerning racial issues at first, realized the danger inherent in oppressing such a large and important segment of the United States population. Like a true general, Ike saw unequal treatment as a national security threat, which is why he intervened in Little Rock. Also, Ike saw the REAL ramifications of being unwilling to compromise simply on ideological premises alone. Somewhere out there, real people suffer due to abstract arguments in Washington. He reached out to his Democratic Congress and worked to balance the budget. He even put defense on the table, and cut back on defense spending by opting for weapons that were slightly less expensive. He expanded many of the New Deal Policies, and invested in infrastructure by implementing an national interstate system program. Did I mention he also balanced the budget?
While Republicans try to justify giving gifts to their rich benefactors, and ask themselves what would Reagan do, I wonder why Ike's legacy, one of the greatest Republican presidents this country has ever seen, lies in the background collecting dust?
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