I don't know if you are old enough to remember him but in 1981, Carter's ineptness had driven house interest rates to 21%, his inability to correctly utilize the military had resulted in the Debacle in the Desert, with Iran still holding our ambassador and his staff for 444 days, and Carter had publically stated that our best days were behind us and that we would just have to get used to it.

As a former Marine Corps officer in Vietnam (1969) and a police officer at the time, I had watched our country desinagrate into chaos, perhaps typified by the woman on the street who was stopped by the TV cameras right after the failed hostage rescue attempt, and sobbed into the camera "Can't we do anything right?" The Democrats had ruined the country, controlling all the legislature for over forty years. Taxes were set at over 28% for incomes under $15,000 (they are now less than 15%) and far higher for greater incomes. The farmers of the American Agricultural movement had driven to DC in their tractors, laying waste to my county on the way, and had rioted on the mall of the Capitol. The Country was literally in a stall.

Then came Reagan, and, as any almost any reading of any newspaper in the world during the last couple of days will inform you, the rest, God love him, is history.

My tax situation improved almost immediately, I was able to refinace my house. When the greedy bastards at PATCO struck (with the center of the strike in Leesburg, VA, where I was a Sgt on the force) he fired them. When the Marines were bombed at Kobar, he immediately took full respondsibility, and three days later invaded Grenada. The military, which had been allowed to decline, began to improve (I was then a Captain of Marines in the Reserves). People began to assume responsibility for their actions and the courts convicted the guilty without excuse. When he found out about Oliver North (who had served with me in Vietnam) he immediately had his Attorney General make instant release, long before any newspaper had a clue as to the situation. (Which brings the question, when will the papers get around to asking John Kerry why he voted for the Boland Amendment?)

Now you may quibble about the above, but when he asked the ENTIRE country "Are you better off now than you were four years ago", every state in the Union, including the Territories and with the exception of Minnesota and DC, answered "YES". I rest my case...