One of President Ronald Reagan’s most famous quotes is “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

His sentiment is credited as the basis for a Republican Party platform of reducing burdensome taxes, eliminating interference in a free market and fiscal conservatism.

On its surface, living life free of government interference is an attractive idea. So is keeping all of your money instead of having to pay taxes. 

In reality, there are some exceptions, such as:

• When a hurricane, tornado, flood or straightline wind destroys your home and the infrastructure that provides electricity, fuel, food and water.

• When you are too old to work or disabled and need some supplemental income, or when you can’t find a job or your employer doesn’t provide help with health insurance.

• When your crops fail and you need crop insurance to keep your farm, or when the plant upstream from your ranch is polluting the creek and your livestock start dying, or when you live remote and want internet access and cell phone service that for-profit businesses can’t afford to provide, or when the hospital serving your rural area needs financial help to stay open.

• When you need a loan or a tax credit to start a small business, or when giant businesses engage in monopolistic practices that drive out small businesses.

• When you can’t afford the drugs you need for a medical procedure, or food, or when your water supply is contaminated or your sewer system doesn’t work every time it rains. 

• When your employer takes advantage of a surplus labor supply and pays an unlivable wage, or when your work conditions are a threat to your health and safety.

• When your house catches on fire, you’re in a car accident or fall off a ladder, or when someone steals your property or assaults you.

• When you can’t afford a private education or don’t meet the school’s entry requirements, or when your children need special education resources, or when you can’t afford college tuition or don’t have the means to exist while you focus on an education that is the ante to seeking good-paying jobs.

President Reagan knew there were exceptions to the rule of his conservative beliefs. He led the legislative battle for Social Security reform to ensure its long-term financial solvency.  He expanded Medicare.  He led immigration reform – as opposed to eliminating immigration.

Reagan cut taxes. He also raised them when he saw they were necessary.  He made Social Security benefits taxable. He was a fiscal conservative who led an expensive military build-up during the Cold War with Russia – making him one of the largest contributors to our national deficit of any of our presidents.

As a skilled politician, Reagan knew his famous words about the government being the problem would elect him. As the leader of our nation, he also knew that sometimes government was the only solution, not the problem.

There is a faction of people in our government today who talk like Reagan, but don’t act like Reagan. They are dangerous because they don’t lead; they just play self-serving politics.  They have no problem being an obstacle to any government legislation or action, even in the most desperate situations. Shutting down the government is actually when government becomes the problem.

I’m hard-pressed to think there are any readers of this column that don’t fit one of the exceptions I’ve listed.  If so, why would you vote for anyone who won’t advocate that the government should help you when no one else can or will?

The irony is that these fake leaders crave positions in government when they actually despise government. Real leadership finds a way to act, not obstruct, even in the face of strong opposition.

I would call that exceptional leadership.