It is funny, but it also was policy.  As to Ronnie, I have characterized the "Reagan Philosophy" as a Shoebox Full of Shibboleths.  This is based on Ronnie's habit from the time he was a G.E. spokesman of carrying around a shoebox full of Reader's Digest anecdotes and news clips from which he would construct speeches.  By dint of insufficiently challenged repetition this got elevated to the status of a political philosophy.  Sadly, this was the highest form of philosophy which he could grasp, which well suited him to his audience.  That made him a useful tool.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

they did govern by steering us and our future into the rocks.

And we applauded all the way, even after the ship hit the rocks.  Only now, with a new hurricane bearing down on the still stranded ship, is the applause starting to die down.  Most people still see no relation between Reagan's "government is the problem" and "let the fox guard the henhouse" approach and our current difficulties.  They are outraged at bankers using public monies to pay bonuses, but see this as some sort of aberration instead of recognizing it as an epiphany of the actual nature of the existing system.  These are the sort who "would hate to think" that that is how our system actually works.  

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."