Should we blame Ronald Reagan for the state of the GOP today?

[dead0man]

Maybe a little, but nowhere near as much as W. Bush has.  Add in all the lesser scandals the Republican Party has had the last decade or so and any damage you might be able to pin on Reagan is still far far overshadowed by the demons of today.

[dead0man]

Here's a theory:

The Democrat and Republican Parties used to both be full of Christians of all stripes.  Fundies and non-Fundies, together.  Some leaned an empathetic or Socialist way, others a more self reliant or Libertarian way.  The former voted Democrat, the latter Republican.  As the Democrats slowly became the Party of Civil and Women's rights (and other left leaning platforms), the Fundies couldn't stay (maybe because they're racist bigots, I don't know) and left in mass to the GOP.  Reagan wasn't a religious man, he used the religious.  He was the first Republican to really take advantage of it.  His Vice President's son took it a step further.  Huckabee is looking to take the next one.  The rest of the GOP is, we can hope, not going to let that happen.

Blaming Reagan for the current state of the GOP is on par with claiming Reagan single handedly won the Cold War.  You can make a decent argument for either, but they both come up way short when other facts are considered.  In my opinion at least.