Ronald Reagan was the best president in the 20th Century.

1. I cited the source in my works cited page in my first argument. Get over it. 2. As governor of California, Reagan "signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then." Meanwhile, state spending nearly doubled. As president, Reagan "raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office," including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan "a dear friend," told NPR, "Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration " I was there." "Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes," said historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan"s memoir. Reagan the anti-tax zealot is "false mythology," Brinkley said.1 3. Reagan did not help end the Cold War in any significant degree. The claim that Reagan won the Cold War is pure rightwing propaganda. The Soviet Union had long been far weaker than many American leaders knew, or wished to acknowledge, thanks to CIA gross overestimates of its economy. The Soviet Union was brought down by a number of factors including the inherent weaknesses of dictatorship and ethnic divides that eventually forced its breakup.2 4. The rich people that Reagan was friends with. They donated to his campaign, he lowered their taxes. 5. Senior members of the Reagan administration were involved in selling guns to the Islamist regime in Iran in order to fund the supply of armaments to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, in direct contravention of Congressional resolutions demanding that support for the Contras be cut off entirely. An independent investigation concluded that the arms sales to Iran operations "were carried out with the knowledge of, among others, President Ronald Reagan [and] Vice President George Bush," and that "large volumes of highly relevant, contemporaneously created documents were systematically and willfully withheld from investigators by several Reagan Administration officials."At best, Reagan was guilty of gross negligence. At worst, of directly breaking US law in support of a group known for launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians.2, 3 6. Reagan fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union by training, arming, equipping, and funding Islamist mujahidin fighters in Afghanistan. Reagan funneled billions of dollars, along with top-secret intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to these fighters through the Pakistani intelligence service. The Taliban and Osama Bin Laden " a prominent mujahidin commander " emerged from these mujahidin groups Reagan helped create, and U.S. policy towards Pakistan remains strained because of the intelligence services" close relations to these fighters. In fact, Reagan"s decision to continue the proxy war after the Soviets were willing to retreat played a direct role in Bin Laden"s ascendancy. Reagan created the Taliban, and continued to fund the Taliban after the proxy war was over with the Soviets.1 7. No, but he could have been more demanding to finding that cure; instead, he laid low and failed to do anything whatsoever to combat the exploding epidemic. Again, at best, Reagan is guilty of gross negligence. At worst, he encouraged AIDS. In fact, in his authorized biography, it is quoted that: ""maybe the Lord brought down this plague" [because] "illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments."2, 4 8. Yes, unemployment began to drop as the years went on. But again, the jobs that were created were low paying and barely helped people make ends meet. The middle and lower class had their wages nearly frozen as the top earners saw dramatic increases in salary. "Since 1980, median household income has risen only 30 percent, adjusted for inflation, while average incomes at the top have tripled or quadrupled."1, 5, 6 9. No. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage.1 10. It was a devastating blow to government union members from which the labor movement never recovered. It was not good.2 Works Cited 1 http://thinkprogress.org... 2 http://prorev.com... 3 http://www.hrw.org... 4 Ronald Reagan"s Authorized Biography. 5 http://www.examiner.com... 6 http://www.nytimes.com...