A lesson from 'extremist' Reagan

By Mark J. Fitzgibbons

Those who haven't read David Kopel's excellent piece, Ronald Reagan: Extremist Collaborator, should do so, and soon. In it, he chronicles the charges of extremist, racist and more that Ronald Reagan faced in his political rise.

Kopel does an outstanding job describing how Reagan not only battled against mean and false charges from the fringe left, which may have been less radical and less firmly entrenched in the Democratic Party then than today, but much like today's Tea Partiers and constitutional conservatives, Reagan faced strong opposition from the Republican establishment.

In fact, after reading Kopel's piece, you'll see that many in today's GOP who claim the mantle of Reagan probably would have been part of the problem Reagan was fighting against, and would have tried to sabotage his rise.

From the political establishment we are often reminded of Reagan's 11^th Commandment: "thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans." In fact, however, it was California GOP chairman Gaylord Parkinson who used that phrase in an attempt to stop Republican attacks on Reagan.

As the media, professional consultants, and the political class whose world is being turned upside down continue to portray following the Constitution (the law) and avoiding national bankruptcy spending as fringe, radical or absurd, read Kopel's piece -- then laugh.