What Do YOU Think Defines a Republican / Conservative...?

[Novak]

How is a weak military, assuming that civilian control of said military remains, not in keeping with conservatism?

https://www.theamericanconservative....can-tradition/

[SteyrAUG]

I can see that you have no interest in addressing your political/cultural predicament, much less working to improve it.

And you said the Republican Party doesn't represent you...

Was that directed to me? I honestly don't know.

[vicious_cb]

https://www.theamericanconservative....can-tradition/

Just because the military has been misused for the last 50 years doesnt mean a strong military is the problem. Just like how an AR-15 is used in mass shooting doesnt mean we need to reduce its capabilities.

[chuckman]

Most definitely. If you want to gig Reagan on something, it would be Iran - Conta. You have to choose between the CIA ran a covert operation completely under his nose OR he knew all about it and tried to run a covert operation off the books. I understand his basic desire to fight communism everywhere, but I'm not sure selling arms to a terrorist state to fund an insurgency is the way to go about it. Add in the fact that at least the CIA knew planes that delivered arms to the Contra's were coming back loaded with coke and it just get's worse from there.

Reagan did a lot of great things, including the ability to resist overtures from the "gun control" crowd even after he was shot, but he was hardly the perfect president. I believe the good outweighs the bad and that the most important thing he accomplished was bringing the Cold War to an end.

Iran-Contra was an example of good initiative but poor judgment. He thought he could hedge his bets on all sides and bring American hostages home to boot, and most of it went sideways, as it would when dealing with Iran.

I agree, the best thing he did was bring the cold war to an end. His policies also jump started the economy, pulling us out of the Carter recession, but the policies were big-government-mandates and huge injections of tax money, which ultimately did us no favors. His greatest attribute was his leadership.