The Reagan Way

In light of the Perilous Paper, talks about the Cold war, and current issues with the Russian government, the recent CPAC or Conservative Political Action Conference, Ronald Reagan lived on although he passed away about 10 years ago. The main topic of discussion was how the current government, specifically the Conservatives are dealing with Vladimir Putin. For the short clip and the story about the conference click here. There was much criticism of how the situation today is being handled, however on the positive end they all commemorated how Reagan dealt with the Soviets during the Cold war.



The main idea I took away from the article and video was that Reagan did not give the Soviets any special attention unless it was in an arms talk (about weapons of mass destruction). And when Reagan was in office during the Cold War, is when things started to go in the right direction for an American standpoint. So this could be telling for today on how to treat and deal with Putin and the Russian conflicts. With all the attention lately from the Olympics and Ukraine, all eyes are on Putin, and by Reagan's philosophy that exactly how he likes it. Marco Rubio, a very conservative Senator from Florida said, “Reagan dealt with the Soviet Union because they had nuclear weapons and he wanted peace, but he never accepted the Soviet Union,” The thing that most strikes me here, is "accepted" portrays a negative connotation of how the government is dealing with Putin. It almost is saying that they're conforming to what the Russians are doing.For the future, I believe the US government as a whole should not put their past aside like they have recently, and instead look back at what worked in past conflicts. This CPAC could really be a positive outlook on how to deal with foreign conflict in the present day.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, 

if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

George Bernard Shaw