The cry, “Reaganism is dead!” has been uttered several times during the presidential campaign in 2016. Two such examples will suffice. Eliana Johnson posted such an assessment on nationalreview.com on February 29th. Peter Wehner wrote the lead story which trumpeted that meme in Time on March 10th.

Although each mentioned several indicators of Reaganism’s waning influence, Johnson and Wehner agreed that Donald Trump’s apparent success in capturing the GOP’s presidential nomination this year is the prime example of the Gipper’s decline and fall. According to Wehner, Trump is “the antithesis of so much that Ronald Reagan stood for: intellectual depth and philosophical consistency, respect for ideas and elevated rhetoric, civility and personal grace.” (I don’t recall those adjectives being associated with Reagan by most in the chattering classes during the 1980s.) Johnson argued that some Republicans are wondering if Trump’s popularity indicates Reaganism’s three pillars -- “social conservatism, fiscal restraint, and a muscular internationalism”-- are no longer viable within the GOP, which may also be experiencing “a complete ideological crack-up.”

It’s not especially worrisome if someone on the political Left, or even some (many?) in the GOP establishment -- who’ve never cottoned to Reagan’s brand of conservatism--bleat about Reaganism’s demise. Those persons have always opposed Reaganism, and have touted any indication that it is declining.

When two conservatives espouse the same claim, however, one has to wonder what’s going on.

Let’s look at Reaganism’s essential features. Then, we need to ascertain which of them has/have, in fact, become political liabilities that need(s) to be jettisoned in order to win elections.

The best way to grasp Reaganism’s essential principles is to read the many speeches Ronald Reagan gave during his career, beginning with the “Time for Choosing” speech he gave on October 27, 1964 in behalf of Barry Goldwater’s ill-fated presidential candidacy, and ending with his “Farewell” address to the nation on January 11, 1989, just days before his departure from the presidency.

One can also glean the essential principles of Reaganism by reading Steven Hayward’s two-volume The Age of Reagan (2009, 2010), or Paul Kengor’s four books published between 2005 and 2014, plus his forthcoming book on Reagan and the Cold War.

Students of Reaganism assert that it consisted of three major principles: limited government, a muscular foreign policy, and social conservatism. It is mistaken, however, to assert that Ronald Reagan stressed each equally.

(Kengor identified 11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative [2014], but I shall focus on just the three listed above to save space. Besides, several of Kengor’s principles can be subsumed under the three stressed here. For example, “Faith,” “Family,” and “Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life” are components of social conservatism, just as “Freedom,” “American Exceptionalism,” “the Founders’ Wisdom and Vision,” “Lower Taxes,” “Limited Government,” and even “Belief in the Individual,” are encapsulated by the notion of limited government. “Peace Through Strength” and “Anti-communism” fall under the rubric of a muscular foreign policy.)

Throughout his political career, and even before -- e.g., during his tenure as president of the Screen Actors’ Guild -- Reagan was a dedicated anti-communist. As president, the Gipper espoused a muscular foreign policy, particularly following the feckless Jimmy Carter. Although not the only reason Reagan rebuilt the American military and made America great again, the driving force was his militant opposition to the Soviet Union and international communism.

Along with his reputation as an avid anti-communist, Reagan is also noted for his advocacy of limited government (which also entailed supporting reduced government spending). Once a liberal Democrat, Reagan grew increasingly disenchanted with Democrats’ drift to the Left after World War II. Opposition to big government was a hallmark of Reagan’s entire political career. Reagan was not anti-government per se, but he believed big government was antithetical to freedom and to the individual.

Reagan articulated his belief in limited government, along with lower taxes and less regulation, in numerous speeches. Perhaps his attachment to limited government was best illustrated in his First Inaugural Address on January 20, 1981. On that occasion, he uttered the famous line, “[i]n this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

The third pillar of Reaganism was social conservatism, which was manifest by his profound belief in God, opposition to cultural progressivism, belief that a strong, enduring two-parent family, consisting of a woman, a man, and children, was essential to civilization, and especially a powerful respect for the right to life.

Reagan did not pursue each pillar with equal intensity, and he did not have the same degree of success in attaining each component of Reaganism.

Reagan’s greatest accomplishment, which was not finalized until after he had left the presidency, was the collapse of communism in 1989. He facilitated this by patient diplomacy and by a major buildup of American military strength. Reagan’s commitment to the Strategic Defense Initiative, a.k.a. “Star Wars,” was a major factor in the Cold War’s end.

Reagan also experienced successes combating big government, especially in simplifying the tax code and lowering federal income tax rates. He also reduced the number of government regulations. Although he could not -- given the Democrats’ continuing control of the House of Representatives, and eventually the Senate -- significantly reduce government’s size, he did slow the rate of its growth.

Perhaps the pillar which saw the least emphasis in Reagan’s presidency was social conservatism. Reagan was not able, as Robert Bork’s fate in 1987 illustrated, to transform the Supreme Court sufficiently to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Reagan also acquiesced in the Simpson-Mazzoli Act in 1986 that naturalized up to three million illegal aliens, without first ensuring border security.

Today, some believe the three pillars of Reaganism are either outdated or untenable. Progressives have so demonized all facets of social conservatism that Republicans are reluctant to campaign on them. Communism is gone, but even though despotism and terrorism are again on the march, the public seems unconcerned by the Obama administration’s gutting of the U.S. military. Many Americans give lip service to some conservative principles, such as lower taxes, but appear to want more rather than less government. Bill Clinton’s 1996 declaration that “the age of big government is over” was wrong.

Judged by Donald Trump’s evidently unstoppable quest for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination and by Hillary Clinton’s all-but-inevitable success in the Democrat Party, Reaganism appears to be in serious disarray. No matter which one wins (or perhaps which loses less) in 2016, Reaganism will be in the political wilderness.

Nevertheless, if Reaganites also subscribe to the Gipper’s infectious optimism, they may yet make America great again.