While folks born from the late ’70s on reflect fondly on the 100th birthday of Pres. Ronald Reagan, I wanted to inject a little reality on the subject of the Gipper.
As someone who was already around when he was in office, I have a different view of the golden age conservatives now see as the greatest in our country’s history, except of course, for the halcyon days of 3/5ths personhood and what-not at our country’s founding. Reagan gave us:
- Voodoo economics, aka trickle-down economics, aka supply-side economics, aka tax breaks for the rich
- Tripling the national debt within two years (see “voodoo economics”)
- Just Say No
- Creating a new demographic of Americans: The Homeless
- A 4,370-piece set of dishes (19 pieces per setting), costing $209,508
- Bombing Libya and killing 60 people, including Leader Muammar al-Gaddafi’s 15-month-old daughter
- Ketchup as a vegetable in public school lunches
- Lt. Col. Oliver North
- Selling arms to Iran and using the money to overthrow the government of Nicaragua
- Using astrology to plan presidential trips, functions, speeches, etc.
- Invading the tiny doctor-mill Caribbean island of Grenada, which the United Nations called a “flagrant violation of international law”
- Firing the country’s air traffic controllers
- A peak unemployment rate of 10.8%
- The savings and loan crisis, which ended that industry
- “Black Monday,” the stock market crash of Oct. 19, 1987, the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history
- The uncompleted “Star Wars” Strategic Defense Initiative, upon which the United States has spent $100 billion to date
One final memory of the Reagan years continues to this day: the concept of the “Teflon politician.” That Reagan’s legacy, which should be one of shame and ignominy, is instead held up by conservatives as aspirational, boggles the minds of those of us who don’t suffer from diseases that rob the memory.
So complete is Reagan’s rehabilitation and sanctification among conservatives that Sen. John McCain, during his last failed presidential campaign, vowed to cut the deficit like Reagan did. Former partial-term Gov. Sarah Palin recently claimed that Americans who are “out of step” with Reagan’s values — presumably, trickle-down economics that creates cruel income disparities, violating world sanctions to sell arms to our enemies, and wild, credit card financed personal spending — are wrong.
Let the tea partiers have their illusions but don’t expect those of us with intact faculties to go along with them.
“Voodoo economics, aka trickle-down economics, aka supply-side economics, aka tax breaks for the rich
Tripling the national debt within two years (see “voodoo economics”)”
Keynsian econ policy is clearly not logical, and only works to enhance the state. Keynes was a self-declared fascist. Look it up.
“Creating a new demographic of Americans: The Homeless”
And it’s getting worse under Obama. We can’t blame every bad thing on Bush throughout the whole Obama presidency – its been long enough. (unless we want to talk about Fannie and Freddy and Bill Clinton)
“Bombing Libya and killing 60 people, including Leader Muammar al-Gaddafi’s 15-month-old daughter”
Obama has bombed weddings in Pakistan, without a declaration of war. Unmanned drones are killing Pakistanis every few days.
“A peak unemployment rate of 10.8%”
If Reagan redefines “unemployed”, they used the census, and created a massive government to unproductively employ people, maybe he would have had 9.7% unemployment too.
“The savings and loan crisis, which ended that industry”
the sub-prime crisis, the brainchild of the democrats, ended that industry too.
-“stimulus”
-too big to fail
-out of control federal reserve
-taking race out of crime statistics (why wouldnt we want that info?)
-Biggest deficit. Ever.
-Healthcare bill with waivers for the nations biggest employers
-Turning national tragedy into re-election campaign (flashy logo, catch phrase, even custom t-shirts for a national tragedy? )
-TSA violations of the 4th amendment
This is off the top of my head. Your article is partisan, misleading, and borderline retarded.
Jason, I’m guessing you were indeed born in the late ’70s or after. Let me explain the homeless thing to you: Reagan created that phenomenon by closing mental hospitals nationwide and tossing their patients on the streets. He predicted their families would come to the patients’ rescues, and many tried, but conditions that required adherence to a medication schedule proved difficult to control by amateurs. Many of these people were Vietnam vets, and it was a national disgrace how they were treated.
As for the rest of the comments, I’m not going to respond to every false equivalency. The things Reagan did, like deregulating everything from air traffickers to savings and loans and leading to so much of the chaos we are experiencing today, stand on their own. You can say, “But Obama…” all you want. I’m not going to try to talk you out of your views because I know a losing battle when I see one.
One truth tea partyists can’t handle is that Reagan raised taxes at least seven times, including the largest corporate tax hike ever. Obama has lowered taxes across the board and kept the Bush tax cuts in place, despite the fact that those cuts, particularly on the upper 2 percent, hobbled the economy and failed to spur job growth.
Yes Jon, and the state of the economy he handed to his successor, George H.W. Bush, made it impossible for anyone to read Bush’s lips to vote for him for a second term.
And I didn’t even get into the legacy of Reagan’s botching of the start of the AIDS epidemic…
Trish and Jon, your comments are refreshing.
When Reagan was governor of California, he imperiously created a huge homeless problem in the state by reducing the mental health services and mental hospitals servicing the poor and needy. San Francisco and Los Angeles became dumping grounds for many of these folks and our state had never recovered from that problem, as well.
Let’s not forget his aphasia while still in office-he was already suffering from dementia and his son, Ron is accurate, ans many of us who are related to dementia patients recognize.
ronald reagan ~ BIH ~ Burn In HELL !
Bull****. If you want to talk about who created the damn deficit in the 80s, look no further than the Democrat congress, who refused to cut spending at any time during his 8 years in office! And don’t be facetious and write down 10.8% unemployment as if it was the norm. The 1982 recession produced that FOR ONE YEAR ONLY and that was due to adjustments to monetary policy neccessitated by the actions of his predecessor. Unemplyment and inflation were LOW thru the remainder of his term. Air traffic controllers? Don’t illegally strike and you wouldn;t have been fired! WHat a deceptive load of crap from you
And Bamboo Harvester YOU CAN BURN THERE TOO!!