To the editor: Joel Edward Goza provides an excellent comparison and history of the policies of the Reagan Revolution and Project 2025, and the Heritage Foundation's role in both.
However, omitted is the detail that the Medicaid health insurance safety net for low-income Americans was slashed by President Ronald Reagan and became inaccessible to all but the most destitute Americans for decades.
It wasn't until 30 years later that Obamacare reinstated that recourse for residents of states that chose to care about the health of their people. It's shameful that 10 states still refuse to care about the health of their low-income residents.
I know this because Medicaid paid for my life-saving cancer surgery in 1980, when I was a low-income student. Two years later, I would not have been eligible for assistance, since Reagan had cut the program.
Sally Richman, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Goza calls Reagan a “disaster engineer.” Are you kidding? It’s hard to believe you published an article like that.
I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and the Reagan presidency, especially his second term, was a boom time for the area. In the late 1980s, Los Angeles County was the largest manufacturing center in the country.
Publishing opinion pieces like this is an abdication of journalistic integrity.
Chris Richgels, Scottsdale, Arizona.
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To the editor: The article was not complete. The author forgot to include the fact that the US gross national product increased by almost 500% between 1989 and 2024. That figure is easily confirmed.
Besides, who wants to go back to the good old days before Reagan's presidency, when the government could keep 70% of the income earned by the top tax bracket?
Jerre Reimers, Simi Valley
