Ronald Reagan was our best President ever

Counter Rebuttal …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. You have only speculated that Georfi Arbatov “lied”. Further you ignore that the statement was a part of statements from American ambassadors, and Reagan’s thoughts himself. 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. I have shown this to be untrue, and the point has not been countered. 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. This is NOT a contradiction, and I can’t possibly understand why you would think so. Reagan has been “near or at the top” of opinion polls, and never in the top ten of historian or political scientist’s lists. That is shown by your source and my source. Further, your source provides context into polling bias. 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]. This is a new argument in a rebuttal, however I will address Gernada. “By a vote of 108 in favour to 9 (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, El Salvador, Israel, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States) voting against, with 27 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted General Assembly Resolution 38/7, which "deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of that State."[7] The USSR government observed that Grenada had for a long time been the object of United States threats, that the invasion violated international law, and that no small nation not to the liking of the United States would find itself safe if the aggression against Grenada was not rebuffed. “ http://en.wikipedia.org... Gernada was not some clear success. Looking at the intelligence failures alone, Benghazi looks like a shining success. 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]. This is just wrong. The IRA, new IRA, going back to the Reign of Terror, we knew what terrorism was before Beirut. To think that the middle east was not dangerous would be to ignore the activity in Israel and Palestine, and many other countries in the area. Why do you think the troops were there in the first place? Domestic Policy Rebuttal 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]. “Voo-doo economics” is a “popular term too. The debt Crisis, if there is one, can be traced in large part to Reaganomics. 934b when he took office jumped to 2.7t during his presidency. This makes Reagans contribution to the debt a multitude GREATER than any president since, and about 5x Obamas contribution to the debt. https://consortiumnews.com... 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. Unsubstantiated hero worship. 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]. And sentencing guidelines, bail changes, and an ultimately unsuccessful “war on drugs”, this has costs us dearly. It lead to an overgrown private prison system, and more non-violent offenders in prisons than ANY first world country. http://www.slate.com... 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. Unsubstantiated Domestic Policy I think I can stop kicking on the record at this point, but it is hard to not mention at least this point. Ignoring AIDS. The Reagan administration was completely mum on the subject until more than 10,000 American citizens had died from it. The spokesmen for the administration was still making jokes about it even while Ryan White was still alive. This sure looks like he cared about the people. http://www.sfgate.com...;