Its the rhetoric, the man was excellent at delivering up the libertarian, get the government off our backs, sagebrush rebellion stuff. I bought into it, still do. After a while I noticed that the rhetoric and the governance didn't mesh. Not many others ever did.What did Ronald Reagan ever do that makes every GOP candidate want to be a mindless Ronald Reagan redux?
Conservatives extol limited government, but they never refuse social security or medicare; they never refuse federal aid when disaster strikes; they never refuse workers' comp or unemployment benefits; and they all benefits from the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal laws related to public health, education, welfare, and safety.