Are Democrats on the Side of Ronald Reagan in Debt Negotiations?

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Let's play a little game. Who said the following quotes?

1. “Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility...This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations.”

2. "This country now possesses the strongest credit in the world...The full consequences of a default – or even the serious prospect of default – by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the costs, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns."

Give up? It was, amazingly, Ronald Reagan, way back in the 80s. Which begs the question, has the Democratic Party become the new party of Ronald Reagan (at least in terms of deficits)?
 

A Comparison

Let's take a quick look at a comparison between Tea Party Republicans and their supposed idol Ronald Reagan:

1. While Reagan presided over 18 increases in the federal debt ceiling during his eight years in office, Tea Party Republicans say that a vote to raise the debt ceiling is a threat to their most personal of values.
2. According to Dana Milbank who writes for the Washington Post, Reagan agreed to raise taxes 11 times while in office. Tea Party Republicans, on the other hand, refuse to support any increase in taxes and are even against the closing of tax loopholes for big oil companies and millionaires who can afford corporate jets. Many in the Tea Party seem to believe that they would rather see us default than to raise taxes one penny.
3. In "Cut, cap, and Balance", Tea Party Republicans promised and voted to cut government spending permanently to a level that was below 18% of our gross domestic product; under President Reagan, spending got up to as high as 23.5% and never fell below 21.3% of GDP
4. Influential Tea Party freshman have also been looking for drastic cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare; Reagan, on the other hand, signed a major expansion of the program. 

Plus, the theories of trickle down economics largely rely on deficit spending to be able to both cut taxes and increase spending.

And it's not as if President Reagan's views on raising the debt ceiling were a one time thing. Throughout his entire career, Reagan made sure to remind those in positions of power, who had the opportunity to play politics with the debt ceiling, that any political chicken with such an explosive issue could have absolutely terrifying effects on this nation's credit. And if the United States loses its full faith and credit, what do we have left?

In 1983, Ronald Reagan wrote the following message to Republican Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker:

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Analysis and Conclusion

Let all of the above information sink in for just a minute. It really is amazing how far right the Tea Party has taken the mainstream GOP. Candidates like Mitt Romney, who in a perfect world would run as a very moderate Republican, are being forced to apologize for their support of perfectly legitimate things, like taxing polluters and supporting a health care system in which access to quality medical care is a right and not a privilege. Truth to be told, if Ronald Reagan ran for office today, I don't think he'd stand a chance among the religious zealots and tea party supporters. Back when he was in office, Reagan was considered a far-right conservative ideologue. Nowadays, Reagan, a man so revered by the right and despised by the left, would be considered a very moderate Republican, if not even a very conservative Blue Dog Democrat. 

Were he alive today, Reagan would almost certainly agree with President Obama on the need to raise the debt ceiling and the need to include revenue raises as part of a possible deal. The American people sure understand, with a new Gallup poll out recently showing that 66% of Americans believe that any deficit deal should include a equal mix of tax increases and spending cuts.

If you really think about it, the fact that so many Americans believe tax increases should be a part of a deal and the concept that Reagan would today be an extremely moderate Republican, it makes you realize how out of touch the Tea Party and the House of Representatives must be if they really believe that they are speaking for the American people.