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Highlands Today

Ron's Rule

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John Dyce

Published: June 12, 2008

In his folksy, commonsensical way, Ronald Reagan provided pretty solid guidance on how to decide for whom to cast your presidential vote.

In the 1980 Carter-Reagan debate, he said to ask yourself if you are better off than you were four years ago. Saying that if you are better off, vote for more of the same. If not, give a new guy a chance. That, of course, is accountability.

Politicians and parties run on their records, and if their records are not considered by the voters, we are not holding them accountable for their actions, and they lose the incentive to satisfy their constituents.

Four years ago, we broke the Reagan Rule. We were certainly not better off, yet gave the administration another chance. The administration then went on to prove the validity of the management maxim that "you get the performance you reward" because it stayed on its destructive course.

This time around, we are even worse off. We are less prosperous, less free, less hopeful, less secure, less liked, less respected and less self-sufficient than eight years ago. In addition, our infrastructure is more dilapidated, our military weaker, our borders porous and our debt atrocious.

Republicans will retain the Oval Office only if Republican voters have ceased holding their party accountable. Hopefully, they'll ask themselves "what would Reagan do?"

John Dyce
Lorida

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