“Ronald Reagan, Extremist Collaborator” | The New Ledger

This is the year of the extremist....

This year, there is scarcely a Republican running in a competitive race who has not been called “an extremist” by his or her opponent, and the opponent’s allies. Often those allies have included the media. These charges are often accompanied with a claim that the allegedly extremist Republican is not like Republicans of previous decades. It is true that some of the fiscally conservative Republicans on the 2010 ballot are different from their spendthrift predecessors. But one thing that has not changed in politics is the charge of “extremism.”

When Ronald Reagan first ran for elective office, Governor of California in 1966, the opposition attempted to tar him as an extremist. Reagan was running against incumbent Governor Pat Brown, father of the 2010 Democratic California gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown. Notwithstanding the extremist charges, Reagan won the election, and served two terms as California Governor, and then two terms of President of the United States. Let’s take a look at that the use of the extremism issue in 1966 campaign.

Yes, fiscal conservatism is extremist and that therefore means that anyone that balances a budget is an extremist. Its as if the Socialist Democratic Party thinks that what normal people and businesses do every day; Live Within Their Means, is an extremist position.

“Ronald Reagan, Extremist Collaborator” | The New Ledger