Why I miss Ronald Reagan

In the words of Dean Baker, "this is the first time in the history of the United States that the president has sought to provoke a financial panic to get legislation through Congress." It's pretty shocking, but it's not surprising. Exaggeration of risk and fear mongering is how Bush promoted his war in Iraq and more domestic spying, curtailed public access to government information, and took other actions to aggrandize Executive power at home and act unilaterally abroad. And when Bush has not stoked fear, he has invariably decreed that we "must" do this, or they "must" do that. In stark contrast, while he was often wrong, Reagan was never gloomy, angry, imperious.