Why are we looking for the next Ronald Reagan? 

Ronald Reagan, was the right president and the right time.  I am not sure that his ideas and principles apply in today's world.  Ronald Reagan's two most fundamental principles were Reaganomics, which implemented favorable tax cuts, with the idea that if people had more money in their pockets, they would have more money to spend in the economy. The second, was peace thru strength, which was the idea that building up our arms, would help bring down the fear of communism spreading thru the world.

I am not sure these core priciples of the the conservative movement apply today.  First let me say this.  We just lost the election of 2008, and everyone in the GOP is stating that we need fresh ideas within.  So I was thinking,  why does everyone in the party want to see the next Ronald Reagen?  His ideas were the right ideas at the right times.  But these are different times!

The Reagen tax cuts of 1981, which brought the highest tax rate to 50%, and the tax cuts of 1986, which brought the rate down to 28% were much needed at the time.  Under President Carter the tax rate was over 70%.  We might as well have been living in a monarchy, and Ronald Reagen new this, and thus the theory of Reagenomics began.  We are now living in a time where Tax rates are comfortable.  We can always argue that taxes should be lower,  but does that need to be our platform?

We need other ideas to help fuel the economy.  Now I am no politician, but couldn't  we run a  campaign of tax incentives rather than everyone "get handed"  a tax cut?  Let the people earn it.  What if we all bought an American car.  If we did something for our country, couldn't our country then do something for us?  Buy a chevy, and be able to write it off our taxes?  Big savings for the people, and also simulateing the economy at the same time. 

What about buying a home?... Allow our downpayment or a portion of it be used as a write off on our taxes?  Would an idea like this, help stimulate the housing crisis?  Would Americans use more cash, thus living within their means? Seems simple to me. Seems better than handing money to greedy people in greedy corporations, who are irresponsible anyway.

What about air travel? couldn't people have the ability to deduct airfare from our taxes if they fly on an American airline?  especially if they are flying internationally, with competition from other countries?  Would our airlines then see more revenue?

The idea today, is that people should have to earn a tax incentive, not be entitled to it.

Reagen's peace thru strength was considered the right idea,  but it was also at the right time.  It was a time that our military was weak,    It was also a time when we feared the spread of communism.  .

Today, communism has collapsed.  So the idea of peace thru strength is no longer applicable.  Our enemies today will push us to our limits.  It is a different enemy,  we are fighting an idea of radical islam,  not necessarily a country. 

After our military barracks were bombed in beirut in 1983,  Reagen pulled our troops out.  He understood that this was a different hatred toward the United States, and could not be fought in the way a conventional war is supposed to. This is one of the few Reagan ideaologies that should still be applied.

We need to understand that fighting this war militarily, is a mere spec of what might need to be done.   This war is also a propaganda war.  People feeding their children, the idea that the United States is "the great satan".  The idea to fight this war with only our military, while I understand the need for it,  we never fought the propaganda war.  We need to talk with Arab countries throughout the region and to help them understand, and then sponsor pro-western ideas.  We need to dispute the propaganda that media such as Al Jazeera feeds the rest of the world.    The wars and the conflicts of today's time, can not just be fought with our military.

I find it troubling that our party who wants fresh ideas could not, and did not, have any new solutions to the problems our country faces in these troubling times.  The party has four years to the next presidential election.  If I was able to write this blog in a half hour, think of the ideas the party can contemplate in four years.  But they must start now.