Ronald Reagan was our best President ever

Ok, well before I launch into his domestic policies, I simply cannot leave a few of your 'rebuttals' unanswered, because they are quite misleading. You use Georgi Arbatov as a source on this issue. Can you think of a possible reason that he may be biased? Because I can think of a whole list. Part of this may be that Reagan's policies (keep in mind that the US was the USSR's greatest enemy at this point in time) led to the breakup of the massive Soviet Union. Since then, they have never regained their old strength and still harbor harsh feelings towards America. It is very likely that he may put some personal opinion into his statements in an attempt to downplay the accomplishments of the US and therefore leave the USSR's 'defeat' in the Cold War looking less humiliation. As for George Kennan, there will always be Americans who disagree with a president and I suspect he is one of such. As for the poll, you were the one who said that "Reagan has traditionally rated well when ranked by historians and scholars, but never making the top ten. When the public at large is asked, he ranks at or near the top." But then in your next rebuttal you say "This is a public opinion poll, as I had stated, there is a large change when historians are asked. Reagan has never made the top ten in lists created by historians and political scientists." These are completely contradictory statements just FYI. You did not address some nations that also benefited from his strong policies and spreading of democracy. Poland benefited from President Reagan"s steadfast advocacy of democracy. While President Reagan was in the White House, Free, democratic elections were held for the first time in many years in the Republic of Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and the Philippines. By the time President Reagan left office, the number of people in Latin America living under freely elected governments tripled from what it had been ten years earlier. The President did more than just talk. In 1983, when he was asked by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, President Reagan sent U.S. troops to Grenada to lead a multi-national force in liberating that country from an oppressive Marxist dictatorship. Not only were the communists ousted, the troops rescued nearly 1,000 American medical students whose safety was in jeopardy under the brutal regime [1]. Finally, you say "Our greatest president ever reacted out of shock? He changed the policy of involvement in the middle east because of the "danger"? I have no doubt that Reagan was bending to public will. This does not illustrate the leadership of the greatest president ever." Yes he did react out of shock. I will say it once again, terrorist attacks on large levels had never been seen up until this point. There is a difference between bravery and wisdom my friend. What Reagan did was the wise action, as he had no experience (nobody did) in dealing with terrorist attacks [2]. Now to domestic policy. Reganomics- "A popular term used to refer to the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President (1981"1989), which called for widespread tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending, and the deregulation of domestic markets" [3]. Given the dire state of the economy facing Ronald Reagan when he assumed the Presidency, it would have been understandable had he focused exclusively on those challenges. But he came to office with a broad agenda, and there were many important problems to solve. One that was of particular importance to the President was the how well the government served the people. He firmly believed that the government should work for the people, not the other way around. Governor and then President Reagan thought of the people as his boss, who, by electing him, had hired him to do the job. Throughout his career, Ronald Reagan was fond of telling true stories about the illogical and often mind-boggling " not to mention exasperating " inefficiency of the Federal bureaucracy. Keeping people safe was always a top-of-agenda item for the Reagan Administration. It took a while, but in 1984, Congress passed the President"s Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which kept dangerous people behind bars, restricted the use of the insanity defense, reviewed Federal sentencing guidelines and toughened penalties for drug dealers and others. That same year, the President signed another very significant piece of legislation which made child pornography a separate criminal offense. The effect of the President"s work to prevent crime and put criminals where they belonged was dramatic. Nearly 2 million fewer households were hit by crime in 1987 than in 1980 [4, 5]. So in conclusion, not only did Reagan focus on foreign and economic policy, but also on the welfare of the people like fighting against child pornography and crime. [1] http://www.reaganfoundation.org... [2] http://www.usatoday.com...... [3] http://www.investopedia.com... [4] http://useconomy.about.com... [5] http://www.pbs.org...