The Skeptical Optimist

How the Democrats and the Tea Party botch Reagan's legacy

On the one hand, getting nostalgic about Reagan is easy for Republican presidential candidates (with the unfortunate exception of Ron Paul, who has publicly advocated condemnation of Reagan). On the other hand, actually understanding what Reagan did, and how he did it, seems to be significantly more difficult for quite a few Republicans, and for an even larger portion of Democrats.

It's time we started thinking just a little harder about Reagan's tenure; there might be a clue or two that could help us out today.

My latest article about this topic is now available at the American Enterprise Institute.

Principles vs. Tribal Loyalties

I just finished a very good book: Dr. John Rutledge's Lessons from a Road Warrior (see its Amazon page here). 

Here's one of my favorite quotes from it:

"I am not a partisan; I am a principle-an. That means I will support any candidate, from any party, whose principles (if I am able to detect any) make sense to me. I decided long ago that I can’t live with two masters—I can’t always be loyal to my principles and to my tribe at the same time. I chose principles. Some people don’t like that. They should learn to get used to disappointment."

[FYI, one of many interesting tidbits: Rutledge estimates total US assets to be in the neighborhood of $200 trillion.]