The End of the Reagan Era
By Ryan Brooks

In 1980, President Reagan ushered in a new era. With his often repeated mantra “Government is the problem,” Reagan transformed our government for the last generation. With less government regulation, more legislative incentives, and tax breaks, businesses were given free reign to pursue their avarice without guilt. At times the economy prospered, and many Americans benefited from this prosperity. However, the unintended consequences of this new direction damaged the American way of life.

Before Reagan nearly 80% of employees of large companies were covered by defined benefit retirement plans. With the new “Greed is good” philosophy, businesses pushed their employees into 401K plans and social security as their only retirement option. When the market crashed this year, many people can no longer afford to retire. Currently only 20% of employees are now covered by good (defined benefit) retirement plans. The rest saw the life savings and retirement hopes evaporate. Rules were also changed to allow businesses to tap into the employees' retirement money for businesses expansion and investment. When these business ventures failed, employees lost almost all their retirement investment.

Surprisingly another calamitous result of the Reagan era was the massive national debt. Even though Republicans preach balanced budgets, the three presidents who amassed the greatest amount of debt on our future generations were Reagan, Bush, and Bush. Our last Bush actually doubled our debt in his two terms. Before everyone starts insisting the Democrats did it too, Clinton had the greatest budget surplus in the history of our country, which the last Bush inherited.

Again actions speak louder than words. Republicans talk about smaller government. Guess what. Our last Republican president rapidly increased the size of our government to the largest ever. That’s right after the Clinton administration reduce the size of government to the lowest level in 40 years.

But the most egregious damage of Reagan’s anti-government rhetoric was our government abdicating its duty to the American people. Rather than protect the people, our government failed to enforce existing laws, reduced regulations, and passed legislation that enriched campaign donors at the expense of investors and the general public. Eliminating the banking regulations put in place after the Depression could still lead to the collapse of the world economy.

The Reagan Era has left us at the edge of the precipice with a mountain of debt and irresponsible policy that’s pushing us over that edge. To rescue the American people at this time would seem near impossible. Reversing 30 years of lobbyist generated legislation, reinstituting reasonable controls over business, and reversing a downward spiraling economy is a Herculean task that would crush Hercules.

However, America is ready to reverse course and build a government that works for all the people. They invested their hopes and future in our new president, and send their prayers that he will find a way to rescue us from the abyss.

Those who remained silent when former Republican presidents amassed our staggering debt and eliminated governmental protections will now begin the constant cackling of complaint and criticism of every attempt to rescue our nation. Most of this will insist on following the worn out and failed policies of the past. After a generation of destructive Reagan philosophy, hopefully Americans will turn a deaf ear to those who got us where we are today and work with the new president towards restoring a great and prosperous America.