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

1. We are not arguing Reagan's governorship so some of point two should be void. As president, Reagan raised taxes by ending deductions. You can't afford people deductions when you cut the tax rate so dramatically. Today, cutting deductions is agreed upon by Republicans and Democrats. Also, thanks for assuring the voters that Reagan isn't a "anti-tax zealot." That's not a good thing 2. It is not pure right wing propaganda to say that Reagan played a significant part in the downfall of the Soviet Union. He came out with SDI, or strategic defense initiative. This was a plan of Reagan's to build a "shield" around the United States to prevent nuclear strikes. However foolish this may seem to us, it scared the Russians. They spent tons of money researching the possibility of this working. This became a main bargaining chip in the negotiations that took place between Reagan and Gorbachev. Also, the Soviets had to spend more and more money trying to keep up with the United States militarily. Our economy could survive, the Soviet's couldn't. Also, when most political leaders believed that we should co-exist with the Soviets, including the previous three presidents, Reagan was completely anti-Soviet. He called the Soviet Union an "evil empire." 3. He also weakened the Soviets by aiding the Mujahedeen. They fought the Soviets endlessly, and hurt them militarily. There was no way of knowing that the Mujahedeen would attack the United States. It is an absurd statement to say that Reagan is responsible for 9/11. In fact, scholars such as Jason Burke, Steve Coll, Peter Bergen, Christopher Andrew, and Vasily Mitrokhin have argued that Osama Bin Laden was outside of CIA eyesight and that there is "no support in any reliable source" for the claim that the CIA funded bin Laden or any of the other Arab volunteers who came to support the mujahideen. 4. Can you please name some of these "rich friends" of Reagan's that he did "favors" for? I am sick of the misperception that Republicans only care about tax cuts to support their rich friends. 5. Iran-contra was not a good part of the Reagan Administration. Whether Reagan knew about or not, it was wrong. However, at least the administration had good intentions. They were trying to free hostages, and provide money to anti-communist forces. Nixon and Clinton did wrong for selfish reasons. 6. Since when is it the governments job to find cures for diseases. It is private industries job to find to find cures. The polio vaccine, the human genome, and more were discovered by private industry. Obviously, even if Reagan had tried to combat AIDS, it would have been ineffective. Its been 30 years and we haven't found a cure. It is absurd to say Reagan "encouraged" AIDS. Did he say, go out everyone and get AIDS." Also, I do not think it is wrong to believe that it is a person's responsibility not to get AIDS. If you don't sleep around or do drugs, you won't get AIDS. 7. What effect has the immigration bill had on this country? Please cite studies that show that it had an adverse effect, not show what a left wing website has to say. 8. The air traffic controllers broke their contracts. They deserved to be fired. These unions need to realize the government isn't made of money. They need to stop demanding, and start asking if they have enough already. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org...(1985)