45 Quotes by Eugene Jarecki

The big lesson of Reagan is: To think that he was some sort of simple figurehead and didnt do the thinking and simply read a script in front of him woefully underestimates him. Ronald Reagan was an extremely intelligent person with a real V8 engine under his hood.

Ronald Reagan's legacy is deeply misunderstood because there are political actors in America who, for several reasons, have privately held agendas that they want to sell to the American public in the most appealing way possible. They often find the best way to do that is to package their product with the Reagan brand.

The prison industrial complex is perhaps, at least domestically, the most striking example of us putting profit before people. It all stems from one basic misunderstanding: that the public good can be shepherded by private interests.

It is only education and understanding of the past that teaches us not to repeat history.

Reagan has very significant things to teach us - positive lessons and quite negative lessons.

Ronald Reagan, whatever his pros and cons were, was a public servant in the end.

War is party-blind. It doesn't care who is in the Oval Office. The forces that drive us to war don't care whether it's Republican, Democrat, or other. The fact is, these parties are prey to special interests. That is something Eisenhower was afraid of.

There are people who are trying to advance themselves by wrapping themselves in Reagan.

I have criticisms of Ronald Reagan, but he lives in another universe from the kind of political theater that is represented by people, like Sarah Palin, who aren't really public servants.