reagan said it best himself. he said, i think he convinced people who might have thought otherwise that i might what i said. incidentally, i would have been just as forceful if i thought management ha had been wrong ine dispute. that was ronald reagan, fairness. i recall this pivotal moment for another reason as well. most americans at the time firmed reagan's firm handling of the strike as a domestic matter, a confrontation between the president and the public sector union, but this misses a critical point in my view. to quote a phrase from another american moment, the whole world was watching. thanks to newspapers and television then, and increasingly now the internet and social media, what happens here doesn't stay here. this is not vegas. [laughter] another way of saying what i've just described is that americans do not have the luxury of thinking that what we've long viewed as purely domestic matters have no consequences beyond our borders. to the contrary. what we say and what we do at home affects how othe

you have to incant reagan, reagan, reagan, you have to propose a policy named reagan.d consider a pet or a child named reagan maybe. what's it like to see the republican party's decision to elevate ronald reagan as a saint when you are the former president who sat on the inaugural stage with reagan in 1980 and wrote this about him in your diary that day? on the day president reagan was inaugurated president carter wrote this, quote, "i consider him to have an affable and decent man. his life seems to be governed by a few anecdotes and vignettes that he has memorized. he doesn't seem to like to listen -- excuse me. he doesn't seem to listen when anybody talks to him." here's president jimmy carter today on the republican candidates, the religious right, president obama's re-election chances, and the elevation of republican sainthood of ronald reagan. >> among the republican candidates this year is someone who volunteered for your presidential campaign, michele bachmann. >> i know. and i appreciate that she helped me out. >> she's -- i would love to overhear you two gett

ronald reagan brought an entire generation of youth into the republican party and this was the reagan revolution. he won the youth vote in 1980 and won it decisively in 1984. it is not true that youth won't vote for republicans and even the very first millennials when they came to the poll, the first that were eligible to vote in 2000 split their tickets evenly between al gore and george bush. it is fair to say that because you don't have as much experience as older generations, their political views are formed as much by the failures they have known in their lifetime as they are by any vision that is as spouse by a particular politician. reagan was aided by the failure of the carter administration but also was able to communicate conservatism so beautifully that an entire generation rallied to his vision. that is what barack obama was able to do. the youth started breaking from the republican party because they believe john kerry's mantra that the iraq war with the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place. and in 2005 the failure of the federal government to respond to hurrican

reagan comes in, don't forget we are in the reagan library.1th command many about don't speak ill of other republicans. >> will that be honored tonight? >> it will be invoked. it'll be honored in breach. someone will say, let's remember ronald reagan, but i have to answer that question. >> by the way, that's a great commandment for a front-runner. let me ask you about michele bachmann. oh, i'm sorry, bob, let me ask you this. have you been in campaigns where you go at each other. should governor romney go on the offensive? >> you know, listen, i think if he says some of the stuff he's been saying on the campaign trail, he will set perry up with a great opportunity. if he starts talking about career politicians, he will say, the only problem is you lose most elections. republicans don't want a loser. he can say it kind of lightly and i think it would be a tremendously devastating moment for romney. romney in laugh fie days sounded almost frantic in his attempts to identify with the tea party. i think it increases his phoniness. i think he has t

reagan. >> the reagan tradition. >> i'm with president reagan. >> wow.t's right. ronald reagan was the hot topic. how many times was the former president mentioned by the candidates throughout the evening? it seemed like more, but only 24 times. the only candidate to refrain, mitt romney with newt gingrich taking the lead. 24 times last night. lots of respect for ronald reagan last night. >>> up next, doubling down on social security as a "ponzi scheme" is that going to help now but hurt later? the hot one that started last night. twoo tweeted on it as soon as i ladder it. social security is a ponzi scheme. rick perry said that last night. >>> you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95, only from the post

ron paul saying he was with reagan. rick perry not with reagan. >> ron paul was not with reagan.pudiated reagan's vision and left the republican party citing ronald reagan. rick perry voted for president reagan. >> he did? he did. he was a democrat running for office and voted for ronald reagan. >> that's correct. >> when did he do this? >> in '80 and '84. west texas was in the '08s and there was not a republican primary until he ran for office in 1990. he was a conservative democrat and the party left him and he switched parties in 1989 and has been a proud conservative before and is a proud conservative today. ray sullivan, we'll leave it there. i'll see you later today. >> what to watch for when they reach tonight. and now or never for michele bachmann, she'll be struggling for the limelight. first, today's trivia question, which president began his day by feeding the squirrels with acorns taken from his desk in the oval office. >> give me the answer@chuck todd or the daily rundown. i get my days. the answer and more coming from the ronald reagan library. we'll be right back.

was too extreme, and reagan won in a landslide. say it's dangerous to underestimate your enemy in difficult times. i'll never forget how in 1980, i mean, i was a kid who had nothing to do with politics. but it was unimaginable that this actor, this extremist, could win the presidency. he won 49 states in my unimaginable that he could win the presidency scenario. so that is the other lesson they have to think about, isn't it? >> yeah. and what's going to happen in this cycle like in 1980 is it will come down to the final few months of the campaign, come down to whether the republican opponent is stumbling at that point, is able to offer a credible case. or like reagan, appeared like someone who could be president. reagan at the very final months of that campaign, despite the fact that he had done movies with chimps and had been, you know, a real ideological activist for a long time, was able to make the case to the american people that he could handle the job. >> michael scherer, white house correspondent for "time" magazine with th

president ronald reagan in one thousand nine hundred one he is credited with writing the reagan budget and continued his work on federal budget in three one nine hundred eighty five after leaving politics david stockman pursued a career in investment banking and joined rockstone group as one of it's really his partners he's the author of the book triumph of politics of the reagan revolution failed and his new book tentatively titled the triumph of crony capitalism would spur crony capitalism reached a peak during the recent financial meltdown it's scheduled for release next spring as our nation deals with perilous financial problems and a weakening economy certainly his insights are worth hearings and i do woodstock and welcome thank you glad to be here have you with us here. just to the moments in time right now then i want to back into history with you but i'm curious your thoughts thoughts on president obama's new jobs plan well i really don't think it's the right solution right now it's too late unfortunately we have used up our national balance sheet we've had a thirty year kind o

thanks to ronald reagan and the billionaires who are threatened by an expanding middle class billionaires who feared that as more people joined the middle class they'd see their enormous stockpiles of wealth become to be more nearly multimillionaire each and his speech president obama acknowledged this change and the challenge that confronts us now. for decades now americans have watched that compact you wrote there seem to vex too often stacked against them and they know that washington has not always put their interests first the question is whether we can restore some of the fairness and security that is defined this nation since our beginning so the question is are we going to let reagan's raw deal kick more and more people out of the middle class and create a new america with just two classes the billionaires and the oligarchy on the one hand of the vast working poor on the other or are we going to bring back the middle class a middle class doesn't just spring up out of nowhere but has to be nurtured and actually requires government policies to create requires a government that peopl

daily take i'll explain how the occupy wall street demonstrations might be just the spark that is the reagan revolution. there is a sad reality in america when it comes to enter mortality and you know that according to the world health organization our nation the wealthiest on the planet ranks. in the world when it comes to him for more salary forty i think. now that five years ago america ranked thirtieth in the world which means we've gotten worse in recent years roughly four newborns die out of every thousand that are born in the united states puts our nation on par with countries like qatar the united arab emirates and croatia when it comes to infant mortality so what's the reason behind this disturbingly high rate of infant deaths this is a question of my next guest has struggled with tonya leave lewis joins me now she's an attorney author and former t.v. producer as well as a documentary filmmaker and like her husband spike lee a lifelong activist currently she is the spokesperson for the office of minority health's healthy baby begins with you campaign take a look at this short p.s.a.

president reagan's daughter, patti davis, remembers the reagan version this way."i remember the first time my father ordered an execution when he was governor. he and a minister went into a room, got down on their knees and prayed. the real shame of our time is that there doesn't seem to be anyone on the political horizon with that compassion in his or her heart." patti davis expressed her disappointments in the current republican presidential candidates in a piece for "time" last week entitled "looking for ronald reagan and not finding him." in the piece she told the candidates, "you can invoke my father's name until your tongues fall out, but you will never be anywhere near his shadow." many analysts of last week's republican debate at the reagan library noted the actual governing policy choices made by ronald reagan would probably have been booed by some in the audience at the library because ronald reagan's governing decision as governor an president included tax increases when they made sense and assorted compromises with democrats that are forbidden by the n

security that is the find this nation since our beginning so the question is are we going to let reagan's raw deal take more and more people out of the middle class and create a new america with just two classes the billionaires and the oligarchy on the one hand of the vast working poor on the other or are we going to bring back the middle class a middle class doesn't just spring up out of nowhere it has to be nurtured and actually requires government policies to create requires a government that people have faith in a government that adopts fair policies that promote a middle class taxation policies labor policies trade policies that reagan's raw deal destroyed faith in government and turned our tax policy upside down to give some of the most profitable people and richest people and most profitable corporations in the world tax breaks reagan went after patco the professional air traffic controllers union and triggered a class war against working people and unions that have led to working people's wages flatlining over the last thirty years c.e.o. wages of skyrocketed. so this is the choi

think a reagan republican is. when reagan ran in 1980, he was very much an anti establishment candidate. he challenged the status quo. the republican candidate at the time was balanced budgets, not tax cuts. it's not rolling back the soviet union, soviet aggression. he introduced new ideas to the republican party which were a threat. he was a threat to the establishment, which is why so many in the republican party in the late '70s and into the early '80s opposed him at every turn. a reagan republican, the philosophy puts itself in the individual, not in the state. his philosophy matured over the years. he started out as a garden variety man of the right. he studied social needs and thomas payne, he reached a point in his life where he realized that the dignity of the individual and privacy of the individual were the most important things. >> you said tax cuts not balanced budgets. what you're making the argument, you think all of this republican push right now for balanced budget amendment, balanced budget that,

reagan review where you know ronald reagan turned sort of reagan ronald reagan ronald reagan the reagan tax ronald reagan tax tax the tax reagan tax ronald reagan tax ronald reagan tax increases the tax cuts taxes i didn't raise taxes we had historic tax cuts. well to be fair though the white house didn't exactly move the date because of the debate itself there's there's some some lawmakers are saying that not everyone will be in town but nevertheless perception is everything and right now for obama perception is not looking very strong so let's get some analysis from our new york studio we have a little pair more of the contributing for the contributor for the huffington post lynn thank you so much for being back on the program. i want to hear i want to start off with with the economy of course the president is expected to speak in less than two hours but the mood in this country couldn't be more dismal i mean his approval ratings are an all time low he's competing with a football game some lawmakers are even skipping the speech in order to participate in that and we see a lot of sort

it is the one ronald reagan knew by heart. it is the one he successfully employed as social security and the cold war. you cannot wait for someone else to do it. we pay for this failure of leadership many times over. as it slows, high levels of unemployment persists. it makes ourselves even more vulnerable to the unpredictable behavior of skittish markets with the political decisions of our lenders. there's also foreign-policy price to pay. we diminish our ability to influence thinking and ultimately the behavior of others. there's no better way to persuade other societies to become more democratic and more market oriented than to show that our democracy and markets work better than any other system. why should we care? why should a matter to us ta? we believe in democracy is the biggest protector of freedom. history shows that mature democracies are less likely to resort to force against their own people or their neighbors. increases consumer choice and keep their prices down. around the world, people are debating their own p

reagan regular you know ronald reagan turns toward reagan ronald reagan ronald reagan tax ronald reagan tax a tax and tax reagan tax ronald reagan tax ronald reagan tax increases the tax cuts taxes i didn't raise taxes we had historic tax cuts. really really worth moving the speech for that and how a lot to discuss here which is good because my next guest should have a lot to say without further ado i want to bring you the young turks himself think we're is with me live from los angeles now i want to start with this legacy debate which to me was sort of i don't know this is weird out of body experience i kind of felt like i was watching the equivalent of a jerry falwell parading the new york city gay pride parade through his congregation but i guess business is business and they all take turns hosting what were your overall impressions. but you know i think you guys did a good job putting a package together you know they always say the same exact things we need to lower taxes the main debate was whether taxes for things like corporate tax rates should be there zero percent or up to nine

franklin roosevelt and ronald reagan.nd reagan argued the country though in plain was improving and opponents anchored in past failures would make things worse. white house aides intended to believe their fortunes are improving and plan to persuade the people that republican a in the white house would be a step backward. but the strategy would take no drama obama hasn't been comfortable, partisan fighter. does he have it in him? we're joined by susan page and msnbc political analyst and huffington post senior political editor howard feinman. does that strategy make sense to you, susan? >> another thing obama needs do, if he is going to get re-elected make the economy better. people live the economy every day. you need a sense the economy is picking up, unemployment coming down. it's natural he would choose, say, ronald reagan's re-election in 1984 as his template. you don't want to choose jimmy carter's re-election template in 1980. at that point jimmy carter got the opponent from the republicans. ronald reagan, too old.

>> when did ronald reagan connect that way back in the '80s? when he said are you better off than you were four years ago? my dad said he thought that was a great line though he had mentioned it before on the trail. >> that happened in a debate but it was interesting when reagan announced in 1980, put on his shirt sleeves and he went to liberty park and he went in front of the statue of liberty and he said, this is a broad movement not a narrow one. it seems to me one of the things the fellows and lady on this stage want to do is show that they mean it. they're serious. they're passionate. they're sincere. but they are not in the thrall of ideology. you know what i mean? they can't make themselves small to win now and then be larger. >> i watched that on nbc news that night at a bar in georgetown because i had written carter's speech that day. i went and saw your candidate at that time, ronald reagan, standing there with a statue of liberty behind him and i said, my god. he's rediscovered an american icon the statue of liberty which is the stat

after 1976, nancy reagan knew ronald reagan was going to run again. friend to give a dinner party. ten people that would like to sit down and talk and plan for the next four years. movers and shakers. mike wallace called her back said sorry, i couldn't get ten people together. she said i'll take anybody. sorry, nobody wants to have dinner with ronald reagan. >> come on, he was president at the time? >> no, this was '76. the person writing the story was making your point exactly. ronald reagan was considered such a joke that mike wallace couldn't bring a few people together for a little dinner party for ronald reagan. a man who would be president four years later. staggering. >> staggering. when you jump forward when he had his recession. look, i'm only talking about performance here. i'm not talking about coming up with good issues or anything like that. just in terms of the performance, he changed our perception of ourselves just by humor. actually, his adorableness. he used to go out and tell jokes. the jokes were cutting. they were funny at the sam

swept 33 seats for reagan. in other words, when you get really, really angry, you vote for a shift from right to left our left to right. will there be a shift? or is there a pox on their house? >> this is different than 1980. a genuine ideological shift to the right. right now we're on track for our fourth straight change election. 2006, kick him out. 2008 change. 2010 change. >> the scary part of that is -- >> not an ideological direction, a radical fluidity. people aren't happy with the way washington and government works. >> and we get stuck another with another divided government where nothing gets done. gets done. thank you. great segment. good luck with the press. and break a leg co-moderating with brian williams. remember, brian williams, and john harris, the man to my immediate left, will moderate the american presidential debate right here reagan presidential library and join us thursday for the president's big jobs speech at 7:00 p.m. eastern. speaking early before the nfl game. >>> when we return, th

that happened right about here this is where reagan was we've you know we see during this period of time that that national income has dropped right along with it i mean they just follow each other pretty pretty perfectly i mean it's it's a it's a it's a very see so to the next picture here this is workers wages versus c.e.o.'s salaries so where is the money going well first of all a way to end where this is from one hundred seventy up to two thousand and five these particular numbers so first of all average worker's wages that's this line right here twenty six percent that's actually op overall because even millionaires and billionaires of seeing their the wage part a lot of their compensation is in other forms like stock dividends and stock options and things so their wages have gone up at just twenty six percent over this entire period of time from one thousand nine hundred two thousand and five corporate profits of course have exploded and median executive income and look at what happened after the reagan tax cuts and in the one nine hundred eighty s. booed and the cuts on corpo

ronald reagan checked up with people. how is it going, charlie? good. i got a sense that bush got advice and got the best people around, let's go ahead and do it. but before he found petraeus there is the story about the colonel coming in who had seen the vice president and was trying to tell when things were not working out the way they thought it was an insurrection, this is and looting and its organized and you have to tell the story of the president's and apparently he says to his aid so whereas kevin has the famous story about the tax cuts he couldn't find anyone on the treasury department said he called the department at night, eight or 9:00 and he gets the lonely clerk and then jack kennedy to ask about the budget believe him so the next day of course they got off to the building waiting for a phone call i didn't hear any stories about bush doing that. i heard stories about others. >> one incompetence for george w. bush. >> for the best of motive, no one can say that iraq was going well when he left office. we had seven years of not so wonderful

i got it when i looked at reagan i'm sure he reads. i don't get a sense that is president would get up in the middle of the night and start asking questions. go read the telegram to myself. he gets the signal to go out there and talked to this fellow. going out to see mcclellan. why isn't this army moving at think bush was more inclined to say i guess he had this, perhaps, a false impression of reagan as a great delegates. reagan checked up on people. how was it going. okay. i get this sense that bush got the best people around. let's go ahead and do it. there is the story about a colonel coming in at actually saw the vice-president and why things weren't working out the way that they thought. this really is an insurrection low, you have to tell the story of the president. apparently bush said to his aide so the story about tax cuts. he could not find anyone in the treasury department. eight or 9:00. sitting of the desk. he gets some lowly clerk. jack kennedy was to ask you about the budget. the guy didn't believe him. the next day, mi

roger simon is chief political columnist for politico and ron reagan is a political commentator. i want to show you something from "the new york times" that ran today. it says this. american presidents often have highly disagreeable relations stem from deep policy divides, the relentless acrimony between president obama and congressional republicans also seems strikingly personal, almost petty. ron reagan a lot comes with the territory, but did your dad ever have to face anything like what president obama has been through since day one? >> no. there was certainly acrimony as there is under any president, but not to the sort of level that we see today and not with the tone of disrespect that ink we see today. i'm astonished by the level of pettiness on the part of the republicans and, again, the tone that they take. this starts, of course, with some of the bloviaters on right wing radio who virtually call the president boy, sometimes literally call him boy, which is pretty offensive right there. but it trickles down to the elected officials shouting "you lie" during a presidential

we heard him say that. >> i am not supporting reagan economics. >> we hear it. >> you are saying thatconomy did better and that's why people got out of the poverty rate. it was the policies of the reagan administration and anti-welfare policy of the clinton administration. >> hang on, and also the local welfare to work policiless which were put in place by people like rudy guiliani and said welfare to work. new york city cut the welfare rates in half in a decade. in other words. it is a not fixing the political machine or job growth with tax and regulation. poverty rate is over. and people are on the welfare rolls and want to work. that's what you do. >> morgan, that is a problem. those programs increase dependency. >> we shouldn't cut spending on poverty but seriously revamp it and take a page out of the nonprofit sector. these are people who do micofinance programs and mentoring and education programs to get the world's poorest people empowered to basically move up the ranks and out of poverty. >> great suggestion . as long as we leave no conditions on those checks and we don't ince

ron reagan -- calvin coolidge was president.hey were teaching economics, the old school of economics sociology major. something stock. >> host: you ranked calvin coolidge number 12, right after jfk. jfk you have tied for seventh place with fours across the board of six categories except for character. >> character is mixed. on the upside two things appeal to me. he was never a weiner. you never heard stories about isolation of the president and woe is me which we heard from our current leader two days ago about not getting the speaker to return his calls. you never heard the winding. every day with a new beginning very much like reagan. they were proud of their irish roots. the fact that kennedy took responsibility. he said the problem at the bay of pigs was mine. i am president of the united states. i am the command authority of the government. first time -- the conference is my responsibility. the downside, lot has come out that i am not so sure we would recommend for his successors. not even talking about the personal life bu

if you look at that speech that he gave-- and, of course, he was at the reagan library, nancy reagan was in the audience there-- he used the phrase "learship" and "compromise" four times. leadership not a problem but this whole idea of compromise is not what the republican base wants to hear. they want more red meat politics. and he gives name in some ways just with his demeanor. he has a sort of bullying demeanor, especially when he does these town halls and interacts with teachers and people from unions. but i think he would have a problem... >> rose: he gets cheering when he does that. >> right, but he has a problem on global warming. >> rose: what about charisma, matthew? >> well, charisma is exceedingly... obviously that's what barack obama had and meeting expectations is a huge thing. i mean, that's one of governor pey's problem, the huge expectations, if you don't meet them you fall. governor christie if he does this he has to meet the expectations. i want to go back to an earlier point. barack obama's speech on the war mattered because democrats were looking for somebody that

reagan went to school in the 20s. reagan was the president. they were teaching laissez-faire economics. they were really teaching deals school economics sociology major. something stuck. some instead. >> and you rank calvin coolidge number 12, right after jfk. jfk you have tied for seventh place and he gets straight fours across the board in the six categories, except for kerry there. >> well, character is a mixed story. on the upside, he was never a whiner. he never worried about the isolation of the presidency, which we heard from our current leader a few days ago instead of being an author and not getting the speaker to return his calls. every day with a new beginning, very much like reagan. they were both very proud of their irish roots. and the fact that kennedy took responsibility for his mistakes and that the problem is mine of the united states. cannot have any questions. the whole conference will be taken to the woodshed. on the downside, of course, a lot has come out since the kennedy here is, unless they are sure we would recommend

thank you michael steele and ron reagan. up next -- and that's not rhetoric, i really believe you have to argue these things out as citizens or somebody else will be making these decisions out of habit and you don't want them to get about habit. talk about corny, the republicans were all asked about what they would bring to the white house if they won. cue the canned answers. next in the sideshow. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. >>> back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. first up, adding a personal touch at last night's cnn tea party debate, the 2012 gopers were asked for some personal specifics on what they would add to the white house should the election were in their favor. think they would be unprepared for that question? not in the slightest. let's listen. >> i have seven children, so i would add some bedrooms and some beds to the white house. >> winston churchill used to have his bust in the white house, and if i were president of the united states, it will be there again. >> i would bring a copy of the de

if reagan were president today i'm sure karen would be talking about how reagan is doing everything long for the economy. these candidates are trying to make the government less relevant to people's lives. >> j.p. -- >> let me just finish. if you look at romney, for instance, romney has had a very different record than perry. i think this is a great opportunity for hem to flesh it out. what is it about perry's jobs record that sets them apart from the rest of the field. how is it that romney's health care plan might have been a bad idea. these are things that are very important. i say that romney may be in some cases to the left of reagan. these guys are -- they're going to continue the legacy. there's a lot of shades of gray on that. >> karen, what were you about to say? >> i'll give you a clear example here. i'm not saying that i agreed with the policies of ronald reagan. these guys are trying to take on that mantle, romney care precursor to obama care fine, but he's trying to run away from that. most clear example, ronald reagan raised taxes. >> several times. >> several times. each o

and a big fan of ronald reagan's.pression that somehow all of the sweetness and light, it wasn't. on the other hand, at least during that period of time, we did -- we got a fair amount done. >> the tone about a lot of issues was different. we are having a conversation on the day of don't ask, don't tell, the repeal takes effect. talk about how you bristled when john edwards brought up your daughter in 2004 during the debate because you don't like a, your family being put into the public sphere. you think certain issues should be dealt with privately and more family related issues or community related issues. >> what i objected to especially was an effort by john kaerry an edwards to score political points off the fact that my daughter is gay. you had their campaign manager on television saying that it is fair game. you would go after or try to use the candidate's daughter to score points in a debate. i thought that was over the top. >> what about karl rove and george w. bush when they thought it was close, the. ended

bush put dr grossman he put five yet but it's right and when reagan was president we didn't just talk about carter so he put five trillion dollars on the books a new spending this president has put one point four trillion dollars on the books new spending and we're blaming him for spending this is ridiculous the president has put us out of balance by one point six trillion this year i want to one point three trillion next year just because i think this is more fundamental moral and political issue is what is the is is government here to make sure that we have a middle class or is government not here to make sure that we have and i think i think that's a good point and i think what reagan did was he exposed to the new deal was not actually supporting long term middle class because he was the one in one nine hundred sixty four i believe who said so security was being sold to us as insurance when really it was welfare he's the one who said that he's the one who exposed as a ponzi scheme he was so he wasn't he was she was uncomfortable years it's never filled with understandable that the

ronald reagan had a vision of limited government. that's who our founders gave to us. we are a constitutional republic. and we are proud of our constitutional republic. because of his vision, he was able to do the impossible. after jimmy carter did a number on our economy, ronald reagan came in with a completely different vision. you see there are two visions of our constitution. one is the real version of the constitution. which is a limited government with an enumerated powers. the other is an expansive view. the man that served longer than any other was a democrat that was franklin roosevelt. and he said to live under the united states constitution, he said it was the most marvelously elastic compilation