Five Reasons Why Ronald Reagan Should Never Be on the $50 Bill

For years Republicans have been trying to get former president Ronald Reagan’s face on United States currency. The latest effort is being spearheaded by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who has proposed legislation that would replace Grant with Reagan on the $50 bill, but here are five reasons why Ronald Reagan should never be on the fifty or any other United States currency.

In a statement, Rep. McHenry said, “Every generation needs its own heroes. One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy. President Reagan was a modern day statesman, whose presidency transformed our nation’s political and economic thinking. Through both his domestic and international policies he renewed America’s self confidence, defeated the Soviets and taught us that each generation must provide opportunity for the next. ”

As you can see, McHenry’s argument is based on the typical Republican deification of Ronald Reagan. The problem is that the myth doesn’t match up with the facts. Here are 5 reasons why Ronald Reagan does not deserve to be on the $50 dollar bill.

1). The size of the federal government exploded under Ronald Reagan

The Republican myth is that Reagan shrunk the size of the federal government, but this is not true. In fact, it is blatantly false. It was reported as early as 1988 that the size of the federal government had grown by 7% under Ronald Reagan. Also, government became a larger percentage of GDP under Reagan than it had previously been. When defense spending is included on the Reagan resume, the size of the federal government grew by 90% during the Reagan years, so much for small government conservatism.

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