There is an interview question that is : “If you could add a President to Mt. Rushmore, who would it be?” The correct answer is Ronald Reagan. Not for any reason, other than that if you don’t say Reagan, than you’re not “one of us”. In 1997, I think people could reasonably say that “Reagonomics” was working, and this sort of litmus test likely would add credibility to a person’s rationality.
In 2021, it’s obvious that the combination of The Southern Strategy, The Moral Majority, and Gingrichian Hyper-Partisanship have endangered The Great Experiment to the brink of disaster. Reagonimics, today, stands for the destruction of main-street, the outsourcing of American jobs and prosperity, the heightening of capitalism-fueled inequality, the death of The American Dream for millions of Americans, and the near complete disillusionment of The Millennial Generation having been born while Reagan was in office and the first American generation to be financially worse off than their parents since these things have been measured.
Today, that litmus test is not a sign of rational thinking and grounded values. Today, it is an American flag being used to beat a federal police officer. It is a gun being used in a mass shooting and synagogue. It is a New York slumlord and Reality TV actor trying to become God-King and his throngs of loyal followers decrying reality itself in order to... well, the end never was clear.
I would like to think that I am morally innocent, that I do the right thing as often as possible. But, God save me from the morality of the future. I think that it’s hard to look at an article written a quarter of a century ago and project today’s sensibilities onto it. Though anyone interpreting these works today absolutely should see and understand the failures of their belief systems, especially when so clearly stated.