I have a very mixed view on Ronald Reagan. I love and revile him in almost equal measure.

The Iran-Contra Affair was an especially nasty part of his presidency, although there's conflicted evidence as to whether or not he was aware of the activities of the likes of Oliver North.

Also, the U.S. support for Hussein's Iraq in the face of their war with post-revolutionary Iran is also disconcerting, especially their supply of chemical and biological weapons which would further empower the psychopathic and sadistic Hussein.

In saying that, however, I can also understand the Reagan administration's response to post-revolutionary Iran and their worry than an Iranian victory would further empower religious fundamentalists in the Arab region.

Reagan's best record is probably on the economy, and he certainly deserves credit for the Volcker disinflation and the reduction of income tax rates, but there's still the issue of a ballooning national debt and wild defence spending. He did, however, also have the foresight to choose Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Fed. I don't know much about any deregulation he performed, either, but I'd probably support it regardless >.>

Despite the controversy he attracts, Reagan wasn't as conservative as those who love and criticise him claim. He was, in all honesty, fairly moderate and didn't promote any policies of serious consequence - keeping the core attributes of the New Deal and Great Society still in place.

Well, what do you think?

He fucked our mental health services over and caused most of our homelessness by throwing the mental patients out onto the streets. Our mental health facilities haven't recovered since.

I'm not entirely sure how much Reagan was personally responsible for that.

It seems, if anything, to be a consequence of his pursuit of a state-focused conception of federalism, which left the states largely under-funded and needing to make cuts. Whether or not those mental health services were cut by the states themselves - unnecessarily - is debatable.

That isn't to say, of course, that Reagan couldn't have handled the transition to such a form of federalism better.

He associated psychiatry with communism

kek

Source? Given his association with astrology, though, it really wouldn't surprise me.

If by "honest" you mean agreeing with your opinion, then no.

No! We can't talk about him!