In an opinion blog for U.S. News & World Report, Democrat strategist Peter Fenn spoke for President Ronald Reagan, saying he wouldn't have approved of the religious freedom laws just passed in Indiana and Arkansas.

Pointing to a speech Reagan gave in 1977 in front of the Fourth Conservative Political Action Conference, Fenn states that the new Republican Party Reagan was calling for would not include many of its members today, whom he believes might be "in the grips of religious fanatics."

Fenn used this quote from Reagan's speech to bolster his claim:

Conservatism is the antithesis of the kind of ideological fanaticism that has brought so much horror and destruction to the world. The common sense and common decency of ordinary men and women, working out their own lives in their own way -- this is the heart of American conservatism today. Conservative wisdom and principles are derived from willingness to learn, not just from what is going on now, but from what has happened before.

Fenn admits that "as a life-long Democrat and a liberal," he never cared for Reagan as president, especially "the movement of his party to the right." Fenn prefers moderate and "reasonable" Republicans. Emphasizing that Reagan was addressing factory workers and black voters in a plea for embracing conservatism, Fenn quotes another section of the speech:

And just to set the record straight, let me say this about our friends who are now Republicans but who do not identify themselves as conservatives: I want the record to show that I do not view the new revitalized Republican Party as one based on a principle of exclusion. After all, you do not get to be a majority party by searching for groups you won’t associate or work with. If we truly believe in our principles, we should sit down and talk. Talk with anyone, anywhere, at any time if it means talking about the principles for the Republican Party. Conservatism is not a narrow ideology, nor is it the exclusive property of conservative activists.

Picking up on Reagan's insistence that conservatism is not a "narrow ideology," Fenn argues that today's GOP is just that -- narrow and intolerant -- especially regarding the LGBT community, immigrants, and other minorities. He further alleges that Republican presidential candidates, like Ted Cruz, attempt to "out-do" one another's extremism.

Fenn concludes:

When Americans are increasingly hostile to discrimination, we have a political party that appears to embrace it. When Americans are worried about inclusion, we have a party that is all about exclusion.

America is moving forward. America is becoming more diverse. America is moving forward. The Republican Party seems intent on moving in reverse.

[A]s Reagan said in that speech in 1977, “if we are going to attract more working men and women of this country, we will do so not by simply 'making room' for them, but by making certain they have a say in what goes on in the party.”

Not only are many Americans light years away from having a say, the door is being slammed in their face.