Defense Funds

Admin | November 13, 2011 | Comments Off

Defense Funds

Defense Funds

In the political climate leading to the 2012 presidential election, conservative Republicans are quick to identify with Ronald Reagan. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has been actively courted by her many supporters to declare her candidacy for the presidential election, includes a Reagan quote in many of her speeches and writings. Ronald Reagan remains popular with conservatives because he advocated many of the same positions articulated today: less government spending, deregulation, and tax cuts. Whether the Reagan presidency was successful, however, often depends on what data is used and how it is interpreted. Ultimately, what has been called the Reagan “Great Divide” must be assessed in terms of how everyday Americans fared then and into the subsequent decades.

The Reagan Budget Hurt Ordinary Americans

John Oliver Wilson, a Senior Vice President and economist for Bank of America in 1982, noted during a speech delivered in Los Angeles in September of that year that, “The defense establishment and the elderly will receive every single dollar of proposed budget increases for the next six years. There will be no increases for research and development…no increases for education…none for energy, public transportation, natural resources, and housing.” Wilson should have included health care.

The most significant national health threat during the Reagan presidency was the AIDS crisis. It was a disease the Reagan administration ignored. Lack of funding both on the local and federal levels contributed to the many deaths that took place in the 1980’s and 1990's. Writer Randy Shilts, for example, stated that, “By the time President Reagan had delivered his first speech on the epidemic of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with the disease, 20,849 had died.” That was in 1987.