Exploding Another Reagan Myth: The Federal Gov'mint He Didn't Shrink

The Ronald Reagan hagiography is exploding, thanks to the short memories and wishful thinking of the Right.

For the Right, it's easy: when the facts don't support your ideas—make up some new "facts." 

A cherished Reagan myth involves his downsizing of the federal government. It's a great story, but it's simply not true, as the Washington Post has documented.

Here are a few facts Reagan's fans have neglected:

Federal spending grew by an average of 2.5 percent a year, adjusted for inflation, while Reagan was president. The national debt exploded, increasing from about $700 billion to nearly $3 trillion. Many experts believe that Reagan's massive deficits not only worsened the recession of the early 1990s but doomed his successor, George H.W. Bush, to a one-term presidency by forcing him to abandon his "no new taxes" pledge.

Read the entire Post article (with four more amazingly incorrect Reagan myths) here.