What Reagan Taught Us

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/editorial/75853.php

Editorial: What Reagan taught us

An editorial
June 7, 2004

In the hours after former President Ronald Reagan's passing, at age 93, it was amusing to witness the rewriting of history.

Suddenly, the man who redirected billions of dollars away from domestic needs to build the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet, ran up record deficits, saw members of his administration investigated and indicted at a staggering rate and came close to being impeached himself for allowing aides to create a shadow government that peddled weapons to sworn enemies of the United States and used the profits to fund illegal wars in Central America was remade as a statesman who restored dignity and direction to his country.

While no one should begrudge Reagan's admirers this opportunity to replay those "morning in America" commercials that were deployed with such success during the last of their man's fourth run for the presidency, it is a bit embarrassing to hear people who know better embracing the spin.

The problem with all this hero worship is that the spin underestimates and demeans Reagan. It reduces a complex and controversial man to a blurry icon with few of the rough edges that made him one of the most remarkable political figures of his time.

...more...

[frank frankly]

1. good

I hope to read more of this as the week progresses...

[IrateCitizen]

2. Here's a more telling excerpt...

Ronald Reagan was a master politician who understood how to package rightwing ideas in appealing enough forms to get himself elected and, sometimes, to implement his programs. He did so by maintaining an optimism about his ideology and its potential that most conservatives before him lacked. That optimism transformed the conservative movement from a petty circle of grumbling cynics who believed that every glass was half empty - and probably poisoned - into energetic and, dare we say it, happy warriors on behalf of tax cuts, weapons systems, corporate welfare, deregulation and the blurring of lines between church and state.

In the years after Barry Goldwater's landslide loss of the 1964 presidential election, many conservatives had doubts about whether they would ever be able to peddle their programs successfully. But Reagan did not doubt. He believed. And his faith was infectious. It helped him beat a liberal Democratic governor of California in 1966 and a moderate Democratic president in 1980. And it permitted a new generation of conservatives to feel they were part of a movement with not just principles but with a future.

As that movement grasped its future, during Reagan's presidency and in its aftermath, liberals became the doubters. Many Democrats gave up on the progressive values that had carried that party to its greatest successes, and began to move to the right. It was a tragic error, for which the Democratic party continues to pay, as does the country.

Important lessons to be learned here....

[VelmaD]

3. Interesting...I had to laugh a bit though...

at the end. Saying Reagan was willing to "lose on principle" or "fight for his faith" assumes that he had either principles or faith. I suppose they were just trying to be "nice".

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. Here's what I remember of Ronnie...

"ketchup is a vegetable"
"you've seen one redwood you've seen them all"
Not to mention the wonderful job he did on "Death Valley Days"
I cannot, for the life of me, understand how/why the right wing absolutely worships this guy.
He has been charecterized as a personable person, someone who came off as genuinely nice. Fine. That does'nt mean he was any good for the country. He was only good for wealthy conservatives.......

[Paradise]

5. Great post, as usual... :)

Thanks much! :hi: