More...

For those too lazy to follow Ryan's link... it can be found HERE.

It is an interesting site... but, still, it is flawed.

I think that "very conservative" today could be a label placed on someone that only 50 years ago was the Democratic President of the United States... John F. Kennedy.  Go back only 25 years, and you see "very conservative" labels on the likes of Bob Dole.

Today, "very conservative" is someone that still supports all that Reagan did (*cough* RYAN*cough*)... but Reagan was simply the polar opposite of Jimmy Carter... and I don't mean politically.  At least, just not politically alone.

Carter called for sacrifice, suffering and hard work... and gave no tangible goal for those efforts in the future.  He wanted us to see that the fault in America at the end of the 1970s was America's fault... too much wanting and not enough doing (that's almost a direct quote, by the way).  He told us that the next five years would be worse than the last five years... and NO ONE wants to hear that in an election cycle.

Reagan told us it was NOT the fault of "America" that things weren't working... it was the fault of Government that things weren't working.  Let the People decide what is best for them, and let them chose the manner in which to find it... and things work MUCH better.  Government wasn't the solution, it was the problem (another near direct quote).  Reagan said there'd be hard work and tough times... but that it would result in a better "tomorrow" (the now nearly iconic "Morning in America" campaign), and history has shown him correct.

His programs and policies changed the White House paradigm... no question.  But was he the "die-hard" Old Guard conservative that so many make him out to be now?  NO, he wasn't.  He was just really, REALLY good at presenting his ideas in ways that all of America could understand and relate to.  They were good ideas (for the most part)... don't misunderstand me.  He wasn't selling crap and calling it "Shinola"... he was just selling Shinola like it was the best thing since sliced bread while telling us to stop polishing our shoes with crap.