Reagan University

"He has the ability to make statements that are so far outside the parameters of logic that they leave you speechless"
--Patti Davis (formerly Patricia Ann Reagan), talking about her father, The Way I See It

Building a private university named after Ronald Reagan is a ridiculous idea. The name alone will drive away many potential liberal students, ensuring a lack of intellectual diversity; plus it seems only natural that the curriculum will be designed to churn out a horde of dittoheads for the next generation, combating what conservatives view as a liberal bias on the nation's college campuses.

As if all that weren't bad enough, founding president and sole employee of the proposed school, Terry Walker, made this statement in The Washington Post.

"We're not going to ask for a single penny of taxpayer money for this project. It wouldn't really be the Reagan way to come up with the idea and then try to get the government to pay for it."

I'm not quite sure Mr. Walker is familiar with the "Reagan way."

From the 1983 Address to the Nation On Defense and National Security, this is the part where Reagan tells the country about an idea he came up with:

Tonight, consistent with our obligations of the ABM treaty and recognizing the need for closer consultation with our allies, I'm taking an important first step. I am directing a comprehensive and intensive effort to define a long-term research and development program to begin to achieve our ultimate goal of eliminating the threat posed by strategic nuclear missiles.

And, from earlier in the speech, this is where he told us that the government needed to pay for it:

At the beginning of this year, I submitted to the Congress a defense budget which reflects my best judgment of the best understanding of the experts and specialists who advise me about what we and our allies must do to protect our people in the years ahead. That budget is much more than a long list of numbers, for behind all the numbers lies America's ability to prevent the greatest of human tragedies and preserve our free way of life in a sometimes dangerous world. It is part of a careful, long-term plan to make America strong again after too many years of neglect and mistakes.

Ah, the Reagan way.