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Feb. 6th, 2011 11:43 amLook, I know it is tacky and cruel to lambaste a recently dead figure. However, Reagan is long-dead and for some reason the right-wing is engaged in revisionist history to glorify that train-wreck of US history and make it the highlight of conservative theory and practice. If that's the case, I can think of no stronger argument for being a leftie.
Some other well known notes from Reagan history that anyone can easily find and the right consistently ignores:
(lazily yoinked from wiki's Reagan entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan)
1. He started his career by climbing the actor's guild ladder trhough volunteering names of alleged communist actors during McCarthyism - in short, he is what we fear from the McCarthy era.
2. He was originally (allegedly, if you can square this with pro-McCarthyism) a liberal democrat.
3. Reagan "cut taxes" to stimulate the economy, and brought "supply-side economics / trickle-down theory" to the public dialog. This is one of those things the conservatives sing about today - ignoring the easily available reality that he nearly tripled the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.
4. His deregulation emphasis led to the now-forgotten savings and loan crisis - a bellwether for our banking fiasco today.
5. Credited as a fighter, after hezbollah blew up the marine barracks in Lebanon, and after he said we would go after the terrorist sheik who orchestrated it, he turned tail and RAN AWAY before bravely attacking Grenada. The US never struck back despite the hundreds of lives lost.
However, he did strike back at Libya for their alleged association with a nightclub bombing that killed 1
6. Reagan's administration provided covert terrorist training and financial aide to anyone fighting the soveit union, including ... wait for it ... terrorist fighters in Afghanistan. This is crucial to recall - Osama is a product of the Reagan efforts.
7. Iran fucking Contra - no seriously, the right is even making a hero of Ollie North. Contrary to Congressional law (you know, violating the US Constitution) Reagan's ilk sold weapons to IRAN (after the hostage crisis, the evil Iran we know today) to get money to privately fund a "revolutionary war" in Nicaragua. What is odd and history often ignores, is his declaration of the forces we supported as "freedom fighters," when in fact the current regime was socialist - but the Contras were the remnants of a military dictatorship!
Reagan claimed ignorance of the entire affair.
He wasn't all bad, but even those things credited as the good from his administration do not hold water to the least bit of data-supported analysis.
Some other well known notes from Reagan history that anyone can easily find and the right consistently ignores:
(lazily yoinked from wiki's Reagan entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan)
1. He started his career by climbing the actor's guild ladder trhough volunteering names of alleged communist actors during McCarthyism - in short, he is what we fear from the McCarthy era.
2. He was originally (allegedly, if you can square this with pro-McCarthyism) a liberal democrat.
3. Reagan "cut taxes" to stimulate the economy, and brought "supply-side economics / trickle-down theory" to the public dialog. This is one of those things the conservatives sing about today - ignoring the easily available reality that he nearly tripled the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.
4. His deregulation emphasis led to the now-forgotten savings and loan crisis - a bellwether for our banking fiasco today.
5. Credited as a fighter, after hezbollah blew up the marine barracks in Lebanon, and after he said we would go after the terrorist sheik who orchestrated it, he turned tail and RAN AWAY before bravely attacking Grenada. The US never struck back despite the hundreds of lives lost.
However, he did strike back at Libya for their alleged association with a nightclub bombing that killed 1
6. Reagan's administration provided covert terrorist training and financial aide to anyone fighting the soveit union, including ... wait for it ... terrorist fighters in Afghanistan. This is crucial to recall - Osama is a product of the Reagan efforts.
7. Iran fucking Contra - no seriously, the right is even making a hero of Ollie North. Contrary to Congressional law (you know, violating the US Constitution) Reagan's ilk sold weapons to IRAN (after the hostage crisis, the evil Iran we know today) to get money to privately fund a "revolutionary war" in Nicaragua. What is odd and history often ignores, is his declaration of the forces we supported as "freedom fighters," when in fact the current regime was socialist - but the Contras were the remnants of a military dictatorship!
Reagan claimed ignorance of the entire affair.
He wasn't all bad, but even those things credited as the good from his administration do not hold water to the least bit of data-supported analysis.
