On Reagan’s Birthday, A Comparison With Obama [Video]
By Tim Phillips
Today, we celebrate President Ronald Wilson Reagan’s 101st birthday.
At AFP we’re honoring President Reagan with a very special “Happy Birthday” message with a twist — and putting it on national TV. Our ad compares two contrasting visions of America: the Gipper’s belief in economic freedom and optimism, and President Obama’s big government philosophy and class warfare rhetoric.
President Reagan launched his effort to return America to greatness with simple but profound words during his first inaugural speech on January 20, 1981: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.” From there he put words into action passing historic tax cuts and cutting back on onerous government regulations. As a result of President Reagan’s free market policies, our nation enjoyed the second longest peacetime economic expansion in history with 21 million new American jobs, exploding personal incomes, broad-based prosperity and renewed optimism for our nation.
Consider President Obama’s very different approach: higher taxes, reckless government spending, and job-killing regulations and red tape — all in pursuit of a liberal ideology. The results are exactly what you’d expect: anemic economic growth, massive new debt, high unemployment, and a reduced workforce.
Happy Birthday, President Reagan. We miss your optimism, your love of America, and your belief in the power of freedom. If you miss the Gipper’s free market policies, take action now and let President Obama know that we will not stand for his Administration’s pessimism, big government policies, and class warfare rhetoric anymore!
Sincerely,
Tim Phillips
President, Americans for Prosperity
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I remember Reagan because he raised taxes 11 times after his 1981 cut. Why? He saw the deficits were going up too fast because he was increasing military spending and couldn’t cut entitlements. Sound familiar? Except Reagan had the GUTS to keep the economy sound by asking everyone, especially the wealthy, to pitch in a little more.
In fact, Reagan signed into law tax increases every year from 1981 to 1987, and in 1982 signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), the largest peacetime tax increase in US history. Reagan found out that “trickle down” economics didn’t work, and led to higher deficits, so he tried to fix the problems. If only today’s leaders could see as clearly as Reagan and have his courage.