I agree, and rank Reagan as one of the top three leaders of the 20th century, along with Churchill and John Paul II.
What boggles my mind is how my fellow conservatives ignore President Reagan's call to be good stewards of the environment. It was Reagan, after all, who devised and recommended emissions trading (cap and trade) as the most efficient and market friendly way to deal with atmospheric pollution.
It was Reagan's leadership that enabled the Montreal Protocol (which has prevented more global warming pollution than any other action by any other president or nation). His administration was preparing to use cap and trade to address acid rain, but it ran out of time. His successor, George H.W. Bush, signed it into law.
Contrary to the rants of populists like Rush and Sean, American industry went on a 20 year tear of innovation, job creation, and wealth building in response to that cap and trade challenge.
If he were alive today, Reagan might very well soft-sell man-made climate change or climate change in general as a major problem. But, Reagan would see the positive outcome of the actions required to transition to a cleaner energy future: innovation, new technology, increased exports of that technology, job creation, improved national security, improved trade deficits, stronger dollar, and a stronger economy as we begin investing $1 billion per day here, rather than in OPEC nations to buy foreign oil.
We conservatives have anointed Ronald Reagan as the patron saint of the movement. But,like CINO's (Christians in name only), we pick-and-choose only the tenets of his that support our own world view.
