0 one to bring god along for the ride. and although he spoke about his opposition to abortion, he never introduced a bill to oppose reproductive rights and he actually helped the cause by pointing supreme court justices, sandraday o connor and anthony kennedy, who joined in the majority opinion in the case upholding roe v. wade. let s be clear, none of this is to suggest that reagan was a champion of using the power of government to help the little guy. though exploding deficits and growing government receipts were caused by bolstering the pentagon and unleashing jaw-dropping defense spending, even as america s chief rival, the soviet union, was becoming less threatening. and reagan was largely indifferent to the problem of cities and the needs of the poor during the golden years that the current republican party yearns for, economic inequality widened, home ownership declined, and the justice department largely refused to prosecute racial discrimination is probably a very strong chief