Ronald Reagan

So, Reagan's 100th birthday would have been on Sunday the 6th. I don't know who would be more out of touch with the American public, actual Reagan or 100 year old zombie Reagan...though perhaps zombie Reagan would solve my burning question: "Does Sarah Palin actually have a brain, or is she a cyborg controlled by Darth Vader and Glenn Beck ?"



Jelly Belly brain flavored beans...oh man. Gold mine? Methinks so.

(I have a weird fascination with the connection between Reagan and his jelly bean obsession.)

Sorry, I had to have a zombie reference. But, there is a real problem with America's Reagan worship. He could speak. He looked pretty trustworthy. But behind that was a man who really set this country back a few years in his policies and actions. He shouldn't be worshiped and canonized in this country. Why? Read on:

1. He didn't care about the environment. This was the man that said:

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do" (1981)

Um. What?! This probably explains why Reagan decided it would be awesome to give corporations pretty much free reign over national land for drilling, clear cutting and other nonsense. He also appointed James Wall and Anne Gorsuch to head the department of interior. Neither of them knew what they were doing and neither much cared. Reagan also drastically cut back money given to the EPA to deal with environmental disasters and conservation efforts. (I'm in an Environmental Lit class this semester, read Greening of A Nation for a pretty good history of environmentalism in the U.S. It was required reading for my class. )

2. He illegally and secretly sold arms to Iran. Of course, nothing could ever be proven because witnesses were threatened and whatnot, but the other big names thought to be involved have committed suicide. He also did some under-the-table stuff with Iraq and contributed to the rampant militarization of the middle east along with George Bush vol. 1. (http://www.news24.com/World/News/Reagan-set-roots-for-al-Qaeda-20040607
has a good article if you're interested)

3. He was one of the most anti-abortion presidents ever.

"I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born. "
~Ronald Reagan, quoted in New York Times, 22 September 1980 (http://www.quotegarden.com/)

Let's unwrap this. One, he's making that bogus claim that life starts at the moment of conception. Well, with that logic, everything (EVERYTHING) that results in loss of sperm or egg is a child lost. It's preventing the life of a child. Nonsense. Two, thank you captain obvious. The only people that have access to worldly dissent and decision are the living. Take out "abortion" and replace it with "zombie rights legislation" and it's still true. This makes it a stupid thing to say. Three, Reagan is a man. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of men telling me what I, a woman, can do with my body. So STFU.


4. He didn't care about the AIDS epidemic. From Examiner.com:

"Consider that Mayor Dianne Feinstein's AIDS budget for the City of San Francisco was bigger than President Reagan's AIDS budget was for the entire nation..."

He just didn't care. He had complete apathy toward the issue, even when one of his friends, Rock Hudson, had died from the disease.


5. He ended detente with Russia and, instead of using diplomacy, he out-spent the USSR and sent the U.S. into an economic meltdown that lasted till the 90s. Reaganomics didn't work despite what Fox has told you.

6. There's considerable evidence (called October Surprise) that points Reagan to the Iran Hostage Crisis. Iranian students and military people had taken 52 people from the U.S. and held them hostage from November 1971 till January 1981 when Reagan took office. Why'd they let them go right then? A lot of people say Reagan bargained with Iran to hold the hostages until then so Reagan would look like some sort of savior for getting their freedom. True or not, given his track record, it still makes me wonder.

7. He was on another planet for much of his presidency. The man couldn't differentiate movies from real life. He even implemented Star Wars and called Russia the evil empire, which was just totally awesome foreign policy.

8. Here are just a few of Reagan's kernels of wisdom that should make you livid, from here:

"There is absolutely no circumstance whatever under which I would accept that spot. Even if they tied and gagged me, I would find a way to signal by wiggling my ears." --on possibly being offered the vice presidency in 1968

"Facts are stupid things."

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."
Quoted in the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, February 15, 1980 (he was a presidential candidate). (In reality, the average nuclear reactor generates 30 tons of radioactive waste per year.)


"Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal."
quoted in Time, May 17, 1976

"I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at the point of a bayonet, if necessary."
Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1965

MLK would be rolling in his grave. Combating violence with violence? Not cool.



This list could go on, but those were the big things that stuck out to me. Reagan did do a few good things while in office, but based on the way politicians try to align themselves with him, you'd think he was infallible. He wasn't. He made a lot of dumb mistakes and set this country back a substantial amount in the 80's and it would be well-advised for the American public to recognize that he wasn't such a great president.



Want more? Check out http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/opinion/21krugman.html for a really good article.

p.s. there are a lot of links to Wikipedia, not because Wikipedia is the best and most trusted source ever, but because it does a good job of giving a general overview of the linked events.