Reversing Reagan

Biden’s passionate defense of government as a force for good is Ronald Reagan in reverse

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

In his address to Congress last Wednesday, President Biden sketched out an agenda packed with “once in a generation” government investments that would touch nearly every corner of American life. It was a passionate and comprehensive defense of government as a force for good. It was Ronald Reagan — in reverse.

40 years ago President Reagan told the country that government was the problem — that it “is too big, and it spends too much.” His words came to define politics for generations, including Bill Clinton’s famous statement that “the era of big government is over.” Indeed, most of the Democratic party went on to operate in Reagan’s shadow for decades. Convinced that an outright embrace of big government would be political suicide, Democrats fretted about deficits and government spending, and generally favored timid, piecemeal initiatives that Republicans could — maybe — accept.

But when lack of government regulation brought the nation into the Great Recession, it was a big government move — a huge government intervention — that kept us from dropping into an all-out Depression. People noticed.

That “Come to Jesus” moment dealt a severe blow to the Reagan policy of the small government, but…