While I think that Carter was a terrible President and the foundations of kleptocracy were laid in his Administration, I see Reagan as the first of the succession of empty suit Republican and sockpuppet Democratic Presidents we have had since. I would go further and say we need to keep in mind that kleptocracy did not come about just because we have had a string of bad to awful Presidents or a terminally failed political class. The ascendancy of kleptocracy with its ruling class of the rich was the result of a thorough-going betrayal by our elites in general: the politicians, the judiciary, the bureaucrats, the media, and academia.