At 152 pages, Robert B. Carleson’s memoirs are among the shortest you’re likely to find.
But the recollections of “Ronald Reagan’s welfare reformer” offer valuable insights about the efforts needed to fight a decades-old system of open-ended welfare entitlements at the state and federal level.
Titled Government Is The Problem, Carleson’s book focuses primarily on the strategies used to battle bureaucrats, politicians, and interest groups who fight any effort to control costs and eliminate waste in welfare programs.
Carleson also offers the occasional anecdote that explains how Reagan’s thought process differed from most of his colleagues and critics in government. One example: his response as California governor to the damage caused by major flooding in the 1969-70 winter storm season.
From the moment I began, Reagan peered from behind his half glasses as he read the briefing paper and asked good, deep questions about the extent and types of damage in the counties. When I got to the temporary increase in the gas tax, he frowned and commented that he was opposed to tax increases. I said that I was too, but the gas tax came only from highway users and would be spent only to repair their highways. He asked, “How do we know we need two cents for six months?” I responded that the engineers and accountants in one department had reported these findings.
“Well,” he said, “I know those guys are conservative in their estimates. Why don’t we make it an increase for a maximum of six months, with the governor given the authority to end it sooner if enough revenue comes in before then?”
I quickly saw his point and agreed. Why hadn’t we thought of that? (The emergency legislation was passed Reagan’s way and the gas tax was ended in four months.)
If that anecdote piques your interest in Reagan history, you might enjoy Steven Hayward‘s two-volume Age of Reagan, which he discusses in the video clip below:
