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It is just amazing to me the lengths you folks will go to to perpetuate the Reagan myth.
Look, I liked him too - like most Americans did. And I voted for him enthusiastically in 1984 - like most Americans did. But those of us who kept our minds open knew by the middle of his second term that we'd been had.
Reagan was a good man who had good intentions, but it was his administration that gave the green light for the war on the middle class in America. It began with challenges to union excesses, but got way out of hand very quickly. The rich have been allowed to run amok and as a result much of this nation today is moving fast toward a third world standard of living.
Turn off Fox News for a while and take another objective look at the world around you. To continue to put the Reagan presidency on a pedestal because Fox News tells you to or because he made you feel warm and fuzzy about America when he was in front of the camera doesn't make very much sense and hasn't for a long time. At the same time he was using his abundant charm to make Americans feel good about themselves, changes were under way that have left us in the dire straits we find ourselves in today. Millions upon millions are without hope that the basic comfort and security they once had will ever return. Reagan didn't mean for this to happen. But his naivete - his trust that the rich would do the right thing - is what has allowed it to happen.
Your knee-jerk reaction will be to think that I'm just another liberal on the fringe. And if you let yourself assume that you'd be dead wrong. I'm a conservative, but a conservative who thinks for himself and knows how foolish it is to march in lockstep with Republican "leaders" who have taken us right over the cliff.
I just recently began to participate in the political forums and it didn't take me long to notice a pattern. You fairly quickly learn the positions taken by frequent posters, and in almost every case they march in lockstep with their "side of the isle" on every single issue. I can only remember seeing one exception to that and I don't remember his name. Anyway, when that pattern is observed, it is clear that they have not thought through these issues individually as they should be considered, but rather these people have simply decided which team they want to play for. After that, it is all very simple. Just cut and paste the party line.
95% of what we see on these forums is just that - pointless cutting and pasting of the same old tired positions. Mindless partisan bickering. People posturing with positions that should be re-evaluated on a regular basis as society changes, but haven't been.
With regard to Reagan, I was there and I know better. The charming personality and good intentions of a talented actor don't make a great presidency. We are going down the drain and it was during the Reagan years, more than any other recent presidency, that it started. How do you think the left gained the political clout to elect Clinton and Obama? Very simple - people were tired, and rightfully so, of the excesses of the rich and religious extremists on the right. Reasonable positions for public policy most often lie right smack in the middle.
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