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California Chronicle | Positive References to President Ronald Reagan Are Misplaced (http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/60709 - broken link)
Quote:
Today, most Americans don't understand that there are many people in the country that are having a lot of problems in living with the legacy of Ronald Reagan. As I've written many times, today we continue to pay for the deficits that occurred with the Republicans under Ronald Reagan that continued under Bush I and now Bush II. (Please remember that together, these 3 Republican US Presidents are responsible for US deficits of more than all the previous Democratic presidents "added together since George Washington.") Why would anyone want to run a country like that...???? >>
Actually - I remember Reagan quite well - and at first I thought he was a good president...
You have to understand, those were very depressing days to be an American... Our hostages had been in Iran for over 440 days - and we couldn't do crap to free them... We had one failed rescue mission that ended in tragedy for the troops who flew in...
We were in a national 'malaise' back then - not confident of ourselves, the future wasn't looking very positive. Mortgage interest rates were over 20% at one point.
Then along comes someone who made us feel that our best days were yet to come.. He lowered taxes across the board - which at the time felt good - but the deficits started creeping constantly upward - which we didn't really worry about back in the 80s... And he did play a major role in defeating the Soviet Union - he upped military spending and forced them into bankruptcy..
It wasn't until the years later that it became apparent that his policies benefited mostly the rich - not too much tricked down back then - but a heck of a lot more tricked than today... We were doing a little better as wage earners...
However there were some warning signs - especially when he fired every one of the striking air traffic controllers - the union busting mentality started then... And the tax cuts were disproportionately aimed at the top - but the top wasn't quite as greedy then as it is now - CEOs only made about 30-40 times the average workers pay... so we did share in some of the bounty of a growing economy...
But in retrospect, the seeds of NeoConservatism were sown with Reagan -
and a lot of former Republicans (like me) feel like they were 'had' - big time..
So Reagan wasn't a monster by any stretch - he was much better than Dubya... But he was still mostly for the affluent... just like most Republican politicians.
Shame an entire generation has come of age without benefit of Reagan's simple wisdom.
Yes... shame. Instead they grew up with such icons as Bush, Cheney, Delay. Reagan's brand of conservative thought has been buried for almost a decade. The last great leader from the GOP was Gingrich. Don't blame liberals for that... blame your party.
When Reagan died, a wingnut coworker told me in all seriousness that the country would now set about putting his face on Mt. Rushmore.
What can you say to such delusion? Obviously this forum is proof that there's nothing to be said. They hang on to their crazy notions as if their lives depend on it.
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