Ronald Reagan Would Not Win In 2008

The first President of the United States I remember taking an interest in was Ronald Reagan. In fact, I was only in high school when the late President Reagan first ran for the GOP nomination for President against Gerald Ford in the late 1970's. As a young, idealistic, man I found the words of Ronald Reagan to be very inspirational and also very well received in the small community in the Texas panhandle I grew up in.

Now 30 years later the world has changed a great deal and I doubt if Ronald Reagan could be elected President of the United States in 2008. The first thing that has changed is the conservative movement as a whole and the hard right shift of the GOP toward social conservatives and away from fiscal conservatives that use to dominate the Republican Party. Many issues have chipped away at the GOP since Ronald Reagan use to lead the party. Crazy decisions like a GOP controlled Congress and Republican President getting involved in a family matter in Florida involving a brain dead woman by the name of Terri Schiavo was a huge mistake the GOP is paying for even today.

Then today, President Bush once again went against the will of most Republicans and Democrats and vetoed another Stem Cell funding bill because of his own personal beliefs and those of other social conservatives. While I believe in God, I do believe there is a definite need to keep church and state separate. However, the new GOP is beginning to look more like a Sunday morning church service, recent, more so than a political party built around people with strong political opinions. There have been some days when I believe the (R) in Republican stands more for religious than for a party devoted to bettering the lives of all Americans.

Now most Members of the U.S. Senate are preparing to reward people that broke the law by entering the U.S. illegally and for the life of me I can not understand why long time political leaders are so hell bent on passing a law that most Americans do not agree with. Conservative talk show host that want to only build a fence on the U.S./Mexico border are wrong too because if they would just let there emotions settle down long enough they would realize that a 700 mile border fence is not the right answer for this problem. Anytime a fence is built over that great of an area of land, there would be no way for border patrol to keep the fence together as thousands of people continually tear it down.

If Ronald Reagan were still alive and had the same conservative beliefs that he did back in the 1970's, I do not believe that he would be elected President of the United States today. Millions of Americans that first supported the conservative movement now see the pitfalls of a movement that only rewards those that are smart enough to work the U.S. system for their own benefit. That said, the last thing the U.S. needs is another liberal government that views all the citizens of the United States as victims, so the only thing that really makes sense is a moderate government which is liberal on social issues and conservative on national defense. I believe such a government is not only possible, but likely in the 2008 race for the White House.

Read more about 2008 Elections:

Second GOP Debate
Media Abandons McCain
Democrats Debate 2008
Bush Clinton Fatigue
Where Are Moderates