I cannot stop people from calling me conservative, but can easily argue about what being conservative means. A particularly difficult part of the argument arises when I encounter the hero worship of President Ronald Reagan. The eulogizing this past week reminded me of his great accomplishments, his ability to stand courageously for American ideals, and his talent for selling ideas. It has also helped me come to terms with the man whose mistakes were as large as his successes.

Why should I make such a fuss a few days after the burial of an admirable man? In my opinion, not to do so carries the potential to destroy his reputation as a great American. I do not believe that Ronald Reagan will rest well while we suffer from his misjudgments.

My cynical side has for years suggested to me that politicians today attempt to emulate the success of the popular man who won elections. In their fervor to adopt the Reagan formula, they never admit that anything he was involved in was ever wrong. Their unwillingness to look objectively at a hero's legacy commits us not only to carrying on the good work, but also to expand and amplify error that can damage the very culture of freedom and justice that the man sought to defend.

Welfare reform of the Reagan era, no matter how well-intentioned, was such an error. It is one that I cannot reconcile with conservative or any genuine American values. Under Reagan, the reach of the welfare program expanded beyond its means-tested boundaries to include families without regard to economic status and was transformed from a helping hand to a corrupt, over-controlling police organization that exercises unchecked power that far exceeds that of the IRS.

Under the weight of the huge expanded program and its billions in additional annual funding, the system of checks and balances has collapsed and basic human rights have been eliminated. Millions of ordinary people have been labeled social criminals and a significant number of them have been jailed for not living up to arbitrary standards and for not reaching sometimes unobtainable goals. In at least one case, a man was beaten to death by guards while imprisoned, not because he posed a mortal threat, but because of what the program's propaganda machine had labeled him – a "deadbeat dad." Brian Armstrong of Milford, New Hampshire lost his job. He was jailed without trial in January 2000 for missing a hearing. One week later he was dead.

It may be difficult to see how I can make peace with a man whose policies had such an effect. I do not have good reason to believe that Ronald Reagan foresaw the eventual violent and destructive results that would eventually be achieved due to his overwhelming support for this program in its early days.

It is possible to genuinely appreciate a man who failed so miserably in a particular effort. The moment of forgiveness for me came through a comment from a man who studied and wrote about Ronald Reagan's life. He said, Ronald Reagan "represented the best of American values. He believed that problems can be solved." Ronald Reagan saw the misery of the problem of poverty and took large, courageous steps in an attempt to solve it. It was an experiment that failed, both in the alleviation of poverty and in maintaining the careful balance between public and private interests, freedom and the exercise of government power.

The err is human and we can allow Ronald Reagan this mistake. It can be said that a man who never fails at anything is a man who does not try. If Ronald Reagan had not had the courage to take bold steps in an attempt to solve problems, the Berlin Wall might still be standing today. The United States might be a much weaker country. We might not at all be in an era of a new world order in which democracy is expanding rapidly and nations once at war are uniting in peaceful coexistence.

The challenge for politicians today, both those who admired Ronald Reagan as well as those who merely seek to capitalize on his personal success, is not simply to continue to expand his policies without objective review. It is to continue in the spirit of his life. Problems can be solved. But first, the courage must be shown to admit that a problem exists even when it is part of the legacy of an admirable man. Once the myth of infallibility has been put to rest, we can begin eulogizing a true man who made heroic efforts and accomplished great things.

Roger F. Gay