The Hill News

A compromise between Democrats and Republicans would help avert the confrontation looming over the budget. In the current atmosphere, however, compromise is seen as a sell-out, not a crucial element of governing. Tea Party adherents admire Ronald Reagan and scorn compromise, but Reagan understood the need for compromise.

By the standards of the Tea Party, President Ronald Reagan would be a despised Republican In Name Only. At several crucial junctures in his presidency he entered into compromises with Democrats to cut deficits and rescue Social Security from insolvency â€" and these compromises included tax and revenue increases.

The enactment of Reagan’s monumental tax cuts in 1981 caused huge deficits, forcing both parties to scramble to hold them in check. The next year Democratic and Republican negotiators from Congress and the White House reduced deficits by cutting spending and increasing revenue. Democrats urged Reagan to allow a three-month! delay in a tax cut scheduled for 1983 as the price of them agreeing to spending cuts. He accepted that, but refused a demand that he reduce the cut from 10% to 5%. Reagan said, “you may make me crap a pineapple, but you won't make me crap a cactus.”

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