Reagan grew up in small-town, rural, Midwestern America at a time when much of America-especially that region-was still either on family farms or living in a small, close-knit community in the countryside. It is likely that he always had a deeply conservative streak in the cultural sense, a kind of Jeffersonian/Jacksonian nostalgia for the agrarian past of America.
His economic views were also reflective of his upbringing, but in a different way-the son of an alcoholic father who, despite his struggles, still managed to send both of his sons to college (this was huge in the late 20s/early 30s for most people). One can imagine Ronald Reagan thinking of his father as being both strong because of his hard work ethic, and challenged because of his dependency-which probably caused the son to think that a dependency is a weakness. Additionally, the rural, small-town upbringing in the 1920s must have created an impression on Reagan as an ideal America of close-knit families and individuals who were culturally conservative, economically independent (or so he perceived them to be), and optimistic about the future.
Add to the combination of cultural conservatism and a belief in the power of individuals and small actors in the economy, with a strong, fervent anti-Communism-nourished by his experiences in the late 1940s as president of the Screen Actor's Guild, his disillusionment with the Democratic Party re: the Cold War, his marriage to Republican Nancy Davis, and his time as a salesman and TV spokesman for General Electric in the 1950s-and you have a person who was singularly committed to a rather simple, clear message: America is a great place at heart, a place where individuals and families and close-knit communities are valued, and attempts to "collectivize" or engineer "social justice" through government action are not just misguided, they are wrong, unjust, even evil.
However, the clash between Reagan's idealized beliefs and Reagan's actual, concrete policies became clear first as Governor of California, then as President on a bigger scale. I think he was rather naive about the unintended consequences of major cuts to domestic spending, or military deficit spending, or his huge supply-side tax cuts This was likely, as much as anything, a consequence of someone who had little actual policy experience being President. But to Reagan's credit, he was willing to be pragmatic at times, raising taxes, negotiating with the Soviet Union, and going back on some of his promises to his conservative base.
Still, it is remarkable that for someone who had a very complicated and mixed record in many ways as President, how simplistically and absolutely the Republican Party has deified Reagan as an ideological symbol. They remember Reagan the actor, Regan the spokesman, Reagan the salesman, Reagan the communicator; but they don't really remember his actual Presidency, just the simplified ideals of "low taxes, low spending, a strong national defense." Funny how American politics mythologizes certain figures in our history.
Interesting analysis.
One thing my biased history book mentioned was how Reagan might've been the greatest politician ever. By forcing his successors to focus on the huge deficit continued under his Presidency, he really did force Clinton into the balanced budget. It was an interesting idea as to how he might've had the foresight or political knowhow to pull that off, but whatever. It was interesting, don't know about "true".
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