Gene Healy Says Conservatives Should Resurrect Reagan’s Foreign Policy

“What
would Ronald Reagan do?”

That’s become the go-to inquiry for conservatives on nearly
every public policy question, from the downing
of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to corporate welfare in
Oklahoma.

When likely 2016 contenders Sen. Rand Paul,
R-Ky., and Texas Gov. Rick Perry squared off for an op-ed
duel on the Iraq crisis recently, it quickly degenerated
into a rapid-fire “Reagan-off,” with Perry unleashing a hellstorm
of Gipper references, roughly one per 100 words.

It’s not obvious that channelling a president who left office
more than a quarter century ago is the best way for Republicans to
craft sound policy for the 21st century Middle East. But if
you think the Reagan legacy holds lessons for today, Gene Healy
suggests they start with a question we can actually answer, like:
“WDRD?” — that is, “what did Reagan do” in the region?

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