Cantor Won't Admit Reagan Raised Taxes

One of the leading factors that presents the modern GOP as a cult is their belief that Ronald Reagan was some sort of slash and burn fiscal conservative that shrunk government and reined in spending.  What makes believing such things cultish is the simple fact that none of it ever happened.  Reagan never cut spending.  He never shrunk government.  He did the exact opposite to be precise.  He tripled the federal debt, ran huge budget deficits and even grew the overall size of government by leaps and bounds.

To hide from their true Reagan legacy, Republicans have invented an alternate history that treats Reagan much like an apostle of "conservative government."  Things like Reagan's 11 tax increases including all kinds of new revenue for infrastructure, his tripling of the federal debt or his huge increase in federal public sector employment simply never happened.  In the instance that you get a Republican to admit that they did happen, it's always in the context that Reagan was forced by the liberals in Congress or that despite his mammoth tax increases his net tax increase is still negative, as if that's supposed to exempt him from raising taxes.

Consider that taxes today under President Obama, thanks to huge payroll tax cuts in 2009 and its current renewal, are lower than they were under Reagan and you get someone like Eric Cantor who refuses to admit Reagan raised taxes becoming increasingly senile.