What Reagan policies are still debated today? | US Government and Civics | Khan Academy

How has the debate over Reagan's policies evolved into today? When Reagan was making the case, they called it the Reagan Revolution because it was a real departure from the way the federal government had been existing in American life. The debate had mostly been between Democrats and Republicans over how best to manage the government. Ronald Reagan came in and said, no, just get government out of the conversation.

That has continued to bounce along in politics. There was the most major fight on those lines with Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton. Since then, there have been pockets of it, but the appetite for deficit reduction, for shrinking government in order to make sure that the bills are paid by government, has kind of gone out of favor in Washington.

It was a very big deal during the 90s and during the first 10 years of this century, but it has not really been as much a part of the conversation in politics as it once was. It once dominated the way people talked about government. Now, there are other things that are taking the conversation away.