Look, if we’re being honest, being the "best" president is a high bar, but Ronald Reagan didn't just clear it—he did it while cracking jokes and making the "intellectuals" in D.C. look like they’d never balanced a checkbook in their lives. To understand why he’s the best, you have to remember the 1970s. It was a decade of polyester, disco, and an economy that functioned like a car with no engine and four flat tires. Then came Reagan.
Before Reagan, we had "stagflation," which is a fancy economic term for "everything is expensive and nobody has a job." The genius plan back then was to tax people until they had no incentive to actually work. Reagan had a radical, almost "crazy" idea: maybe if you let people keep their own money, they’ll actually spend it and create jobs. Shocking, I know.
He slashed the top tax rate from 70% to 28%. The critics cried that the sky was falling, but instead, the economy took off like a rocket. He famously said, "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." He decided to stop the cycle of taxing things into extinction, and suddenly, we had 20 million new jobs. It turns out that when you don't treat the IRS like a collection agency for a failing casino, the country actually prospers.
Then there was the Soviet Union. The "experts" told us we just had to play nice and hope they didn't nuke us. Reagan’s strategy was a bit more sophisticated: "We win, they lose." He didn't just talk; he spent the USSR into a corner. He came up with the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which the media mocked as "Star Wars." But while the critics were busy making fun of the name, the Soviets were busy panicking because they realized their command economy couldn't afford to build a toaster, let alone a space laser. Reagan knew that the only thing the Kremlin understood was strength. He didn't need a 20-year ground war; he just needed a bigger credit limit and a clear moral compass. When he told Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," he wasn't asking for a permit from the city council—he was announcing that the party was over for communism. And wouldn't you know it? The wall came down, the USSR folded, and Reagan did it all without breaking a sweat or his "no-naps-during-meetings" rule.
Before 1980, the national mood was essentially a collective sigh. President Carter told us we were in a "crisis of confidence," which is politician-speak for "it’s your fault the country is a mess." Reagan showed up and basically said, "Actually, it’s the government’s fault, and I’m here to put it on a diet."
He was the "Great Communicator" not because he used big words, but because he didn't have to. He used common sense and a heavy dose of sarcasm to point out the obvious. He once said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help." He restored the American spirit by reminding us that we’re supposed to be the "Shining City on a Hill," not a "Dimly Lit Apartment Complex with a Leaky Roof." He won 49 states in 1984. You don't do that by being mediocre; you do that by being right.
Reagan took a country that was being held hostage (literally and economically) and turned it back into the leader of the free world. He proved that optimism is a better strategy than "managed decline" and that a little bit of sarcasm is the best way to deal with a bloated bureaucracy. He left the world safer, the country richer, and the critics still trying to figure out how a "movie star" outsmarted them all. That’s why he’s the best. Period.