I want to again thank Will Bunch for the opportunity to participate in this week's book club. "Tear Down This Myth" is an important, and long overdue, contribution to our understanding of not only Ronald Reagan, but the manner in which modern conservatives have manipulated and, in some measure, tarnished his image.
However, of Will's many myth-puncturing elements, perhaps none is more important to our political discourse than doing away, once and for all, with the fiction of Ronald Reagan's iron-willed resoluteness.

To be sure, it's not that modern Republicans aren't uncompromising and unbending; it's just that this isn't a good thing! Indeed, the constant railing by conservatives against compromise, "flip-flopping" or changing a policy course as near fatal signs of weakness has done much to negatively affect our national politics. It's made politicians less willing to compromise or change positions for fear of the negative campaign ads that will surely come as a result of this pragmatic decision-making.

The notion that somehow they are embracing the legacy of Reagan by taking dogmatic positions is not only a bad way to govern, it's also a bad way to celebrate Reagan's legacy.
For better or for worse (and I would say the former) our political system relies on compromise. Its something that Ronald Reagan seemed to understand pretty well, both during his tenure as California Governor and his eight years as President. After all, this is a man who railed against higher taxes; and yet less than a year after cutting tax rates he signed a bill with the largest peacetime tax increase in US history. He was a Cold Warrior who for 25 years railed the evils of communism and the Soviet Union. Yet, in the latter years of his Presidency he signed far-reaching nuclear disarmament agreements with the so-called "Evil Empire."

There are many negative things you can say about Reagan's tenure as President (and Will certainly has no shortage of opinions on this subject)! But one thing that always impressed me was Reagan's malleability - and his willingness to take steps that, on the surface, went against his core values.

Yet somehow the mythmaking around Reagan never seems to take into account these "stubborn" facts. Modern conservatives stand on "principle" by refusing to compromise their beliefs (see: 2009 economic stimulus bill) and, even worse, by never admitting mistakes or changing course (see: Iraq 2003-2007). All too often, they invoke the myth of Reaganesque fortitude to justify their dogmatic positions.

Reagan stood up for freedom in the last decades of the 20th century: thus modern Republicans must maintain a similarly tough stance when it comes to seeding democracy around the world in the 21st century. Reagan refused to compromise his vision of lower taxes and smaller government; and so modern Republicans must be similarly vigilant in standing up to the encroachment of "socialism."

We saw this phenomenon repeatedly during the Bush Administration. In North Korea, instead of looking for areas of compromise over the country's nuclear program, the Bush Administration held their breath and refused to change course until North Korea stopped building a bomb. Didn't work so well; as North Korea now has multiple nuclear weapons - something that wasn't true before George Bush took office.

The worst part about this myth-making is that many Republicans have convinced themselves that this was the key to Reagan's political success.

Here is where conservatives could learn an important lesson from history - the most uncompromising and dogmatic they are in their public pronouncements, the worse off they are politically. Herbert Hoover's refusal to consider an active role for the federal government in ameliorating the worst effects of the Great Depression helped contribute to the GOP's 20 years of wandering in the wilderness. Barry Goldwater's "principled conservatism" led to the worst popular defeat in US history. And the Bush years of incompetence and dogmatism cost the Republican Party control of Congress and the Presidency.

Indeed, all the elements of Reagan's personality that made him a popular politician (his incessant optimism) and effective president (his penchant for necessary compromise) are ignored by modern conservatives. Indeed, if there is one lesson that Republicans can take from their former standard bearer it is that compromise in the pursuit of ones goals is often the key to political success (at least in the American political system).

But until they unpack the myth of Reagan and take a full measure of the man this sort of necessary and crucial soul-searching simply won't occur. Truth be told, they should read Will's book!