Norquist Reflects on Reagan Legacy
By: Grover Norquist
2/6/2013
Why on Feb. 6 do we pause to remember President Ronald Reagan on the 102nd anniversary of his birth? Not just to look back in gratitude remembering that Reagan tamed Carter’s inflation, created 16 million jobs and destroyed the Soviet Union without a war…but also to look forward and realize how bright our future could be.
Nostalgia comes from remembering better times. But the important thing is to learn what works and what does not work so that better times can be repeated and failure set aside. Ronald Reagan led by the example of his cheerful optimism and faith in our nation and national character.
Today, the present economy is weak. Until these last few months when the economy actually declined, we had been growing at 2 percent a year, the same low rate of growth France has maintained for the past 20 years. Even before the present negative numbers the economy was not growing fast enough to create enough jobs for young Americans beginning their lives.
The American economy has been technically in “recovery” since July 2009. It has now been 31 months since the bottom of the recession. It doesn’t feel like much of a “recovery” for the 12.2 million Americans unable to find work or the 2.6 million Americans who have stopped looking for work.