Article snippet: Ocasio-Cortez, of course, is suddenly one of the most influential Democrats in the country. (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has just 2.3 million Twitter followers, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just 1.7 million.) In other words, if AOC criticizes Reagan, people will pay attention. That was, she continued, “not explicit racism, but still rooted in a racist caricature.” As to AOC’s charge that Reagan was trafficking in racism, there’s been plenty of righteous pushback. And as for the specific issue of welfare, it is true that Reagan was a fierce opponent of welfare dependency—although of course, a lot of people were, and still are. As an aside, we might note that Charles Murray’s landmark book on welfare pathologies, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980, was published during the Reagan presidency; at the time, as far as most Americans were concerned, Murray’s work settled the question of the welfare system’s defects, and so welfare reform as a popular cause took off, culminating in the distinctly Reaganite welfare reform bill of 1996. criminal problem.) For her part, AOC has been piling on yet more critiques of Reagan. This author worked for Reagan, in his presidential campaigns and in the White House, from 1979 to 1984, and so he likes to think he has a pretty good memory of that era, when Reagan was rescuing the economy, winning the Cold War, and appointing conservative judges. In other words, Reagan had lots on his plate; moreover, not ... Link to the full article to read more