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JUNE 9, 2004 – For those of you relatively new to The Moderate
Independent, our purpose has always been to fill the void. Our goal
is to never write another article again, which would mean the rest
of the media is doing its job properly. We do not seek to challenge
the established press but instead to provide everything it is
lacking and correct what it is distorting.
Unfortunately for my golf game, that tends to be a lot.
Now since the death of former President
Reagan, the press has been in idiot gaga mode. While there
have been a small number of, “Hey, what about the other side of his
legacy,” articles, no one has really simply painted a complete
picture of the man and hit the true story- which has nothing to do
with Mr. Reagan.
Face
it, Reagan is dead. He hasn’t been active in anything for years.
So his death and his legacy are not anything new to cover (i.e.
news,) which is why we hadn’t done a story on his death or legacy so
far.
In reality, we were considering taking a
pass on this one entirely for that reason. However, our
readers have been chiming in – quite flattering really – asking us
to speak up.
You
see, many of them are bothered by the coverage. And the reason they
are bothered is because they know the story is not about Ronald
Reagan or his legacy but about the upcoming election and what this
absurd PR campaign will or won’t affect. You know it’s bad when two
major news anchors, Brokaw and Rather, feel they have to speak out
to criticize the overly doting, non-stop coverage. Even on the
radio today they had live coverage of Reagan’s casket being moved
from an airplane to a car – this in the middle of a war, a
torture/abuse scandal, a memo directly linking the President (the
current, living one) to the torture scandal, etc., etc.
What
our readers are really feeling is the void left by a
one-side-dominated media. The left-wing has once again found a
reason not to speak their minds or beliefs. There is no excuse left
unused by the current crop of Democrats to tuck tail and “play
nice.”
And
so the death of former President Reagan is being treated like a
canonization – and more frustrating to our readers, an seemingly
exploitative campaign commercial for the Republican Party.
So
what’s the deal? What really is the Reagan legacy and how will his
death and all this media hype affect the election?
We
Moderate Independents love to talk about Reagan, because in reality
we are the only ones who can do it usefully. Conservatives gush
about him, liberals seethe about him. In reality, there was immense
good under him and horrible, horrible badness. Reagan’s legacy
truly is the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Most
of it has been kicked around by the non-M/I media already. His bold
leadership at a time when Democrats talked about things like
unilateral nuclear disarmament. Thank God for Reagan’s bold, take
no crap foreign policy which put, for a while, terrorists back off
the map and the Soviet Union into a frenetic military spending spree
that led in part to its collapse.
That’s the good – if you ignore that it was also his foreign policy
to finance, train, and arm a man named Osama bin Laden. Yes, the
rest of the press that ignored this all along is still ignoring this
part of his legacy. While he was bringing down the USSR, he was
building up the foundation of al Qaeda.
So
now we have the good and the bad. Then there’s the ugly that the
rest of the media is mentioning, the little reality of Reagan
facilitating the murder, rape, and torture of thousands in Central
America – financed in an illegally unconstitutional manner. This is
heinous, criminal ugliness at its worst.
It’s
amazing though that this is about as far as the rest of the press
has gotten in covering his legacy. They seem to have no basic
memory or grasp of – or care for – reality.
So
let’s go economic. Again, the good, the bad and the ugly.
The
good: he started our nation’s shift away from throwing endless
dollars into welfare programs that didn’t demand that able-bodied
people work. It was Reagan who set the course that Clinton would
later follow in ending a huge leak in our economy, the welfare money
pit.
The
bad: he began our nation’s fixation with voodoo economics, i.e.
this stupid idea that all you have to is hand rich people and
businesses a lot of money and everyone benefits. It has always been
a lie and a fraud and it was Reagan, through these policies, that
began the massive expansion between rich and everyone else.
The
ugly: Ronald Reagan single-handedly created the homeless problem
that exists to this very day. Why this part of his legacy is lost
on most is bizarre and pathetic. He made the choice to kick
thousands upon thousands of mentally ill people out on the street.
And when suddenly they were all over the streets, homeless,
screaming at walls, pissing on themselves atop cardboard boxes, he
simply said, “They are homeless by choice.” I’ve always wondered
why idiots like Ronnie who say homeless people should just get a job
don’t hire that guy who is biting his own arm, pissing on himself,
screaming incoherently at no one in particular. Yes, the majority
of our homeless are mentally ill people who used to be in government
funded institutions before former President Reagan kicked them out.
But
even so, the greatest legacy left behind by Ronald Reagan in America
is social. He made religion front and center in the presidency, he
put good, white Christians above others, and he instituted all sorts
of laws that have drastically changed an entire generation of our
nation.
Lost
on most Americans for some reason is that it was Ronald Reagan who
gave us the 21 year old drinking age. Yes, most people simply live
with this destructive absurdity as if it has always been the case in
America. Nope. Only a handful of states had 21 year old drinking
ages before Ronnie dictated, in 1986 via a Constitution-skirting
extortion scheme, that all states must raise their drinking ages to
21. Drinking ages were commonly 18 or 19 in most states, and there
were no photo id’s many places because enforcement of a drinking age
was not a big issue.
Instead of sitting around eating Doritos, watching DVD’s there was a
time not so long ago in this nation when young people actually would
go out on weekends, even do active things like dancing. Remember
the movie Saturday Night Fever? What was it about? Most people
answer, “Dancing,” but the reality is it was about gangs. Yep.
John Travolta’s character and all of his friends were gang members.
Difference was, back then they were allowed to go out on Friday
nights instead of being stuck out on street corners, so they would
dress up and dance instead of dress down and gang bang.
And
in case you wonder if there is any correlation between the 21 year
old drinking age and the massive rise of youth gangs and increase in
their level of violence, try checking the crime statistics
sometimes. We did. Try about a 50 percent increase over the first
few years following the passage of the 21 year old drinking age
edict.
The
reality is that Reagan anti-socialized the nation with this 21 year
old drinking age, made good young people criminals, directly
triggered the rise of gangs and their increased violent activities,
and – people forget this for some reason, too – led to the
infliction of permanent curfews all over the nation. Yes, that’s
right. Before Reagan’s 21 year old drinking age edict, only a
handful of cities nationwide had curfews. Curfews were thought
absurd, like Martial Law, and only to broken out in time of
emergency.
So
Ronald Reagan is the single reason entire generations of Americans
have now grown up not able to go out and enjoy their youth – in
fact, not even allowed to leave the house. And, not so
coincidentally, an obesity epidemic began setting in exactly after
this occurred. And I mean exactly after. One year, ultra-tight
jeans and dancing were the fad. A couple years later, baggy clothes
and gang banging, and America has never been the same.
Ronnie also gave us seat belt laws. Absurd, the government playing
our mother.
He
also gave us drunk driving roadblocks – those didn’t exist and
people debated if they were even constitutional before Ronnie was
king. This we actually deem a good thing as they truly play a role
in cutting down drunk driving.
In
fact, Reagan really ushered in the era of tackling drunk driving
with a hard line – it was the reason he gave for passing the 21 year
old drinking age. Terms that we all use much to our benefit now
like “designated driver,” and severely reduced legal levels of blood
alcohol are a part of his legacy. President Reagan deserves a large
part of the credit for leading our nation in a direction that has
reduced incidents of drunk driving and made us all at least think
twice before doing it.
And,
not to forget, Ronnie gave us important parts of the current Supreme
Court make-up, intentionally shifting it as far to the anti-abortion
right as he could manage. He was responsible for changing President
Bush, Sr. from pro-choice to anti-abortion – that is how profound
his effect on the national perspective toward religious extremism
and separation of Church and State were. He made embracing
religious extremism and looking down on the separation of Church and
State a mainstream thing, setting the stage for our current
born-again, fundamentalist, militant extremist President.
So
there is a little bit of an expansion on the legacy of Ronald
Reagan. But as we said, Reagan and his legacy are not the story of
the week. The story is whether or not his passing and the endlessly
doting news coverage of it will somehow help President Bush and the
Republicans.
In
fact, while it will play well with the base President Bush has
already secured, it will play out badly for the President with the
rest of the nation. Both Bush, Jr. and Reagan led boldly, but
Reagan also did it to America’s benefit. While Reagan presided over
the decline of the Soviet Union and the elevation of America’s
standing in the world, it is readily apparent to anyone who has
lived through both that President Bush has ridden roughshod in the
opposite direction, following the course Carter did in eroding our
nation’s power and standing in the world.
Even
more markedly, though, is how clear it is – when one reflects on the
Reagan days – that President Bush is no Ronald Reagan when it comes
to charisma, charm, joviality, and making America feel good about
itself. In a recent press conference President Bush literally
sounded like a rabid madman, repeatedly screaming at and scolding
members of the press who asked him questions he didn’t like. That
is something Ronald Reagan never would have done.
Ronnie was the king of realizing that in the end it didn’t matter so
much what you said but whether it was said with charm and a smile.
Ronald Reagan talked gloriously and grandiosely about America, but
when he did it, it seemed sincere and inspired the nation. When
President Bush does it, it seems like a partisan attempt to use the
nation’s good name, army, and flag to promote himself.
For
those of us who have lived through both the Reagan and Bush, Jr.
presidencies, it is inescapable – regardless of what the Republicans
or the non-M/I media may now try to portray – that, to borrow the
famous line Lloyd Benson once used in a Vice Presidential debate
against Dan Quayle, that America as a whole will say to our current
President, “I knew Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a friend of
mine. President Bush, you are no Ronald Reagan.”
No,
unfortunately, as we all realize, he is much more of a Jimmy Carter
– without the kind heart. Gas prices through the roof, loss of
respect in the world, lack of coherent leadership, economic
malaise. Let the rest of the press drone on as they may, this is
the simple reality that independent Americans understand.
And
in closing is this question: Should the nation and the world wish
Ronnie rest in peace if he never came to do so for the thousands he
caused the torture, rape, and killing of? Reagan led America
through a tough time – but in doing so single-handedly created the
tough time we are in now. Should we be grateful he traded Gorbachev
for Osama? He fixed our welfare problem but created our homeless
problem. Should we wish him rest in peace while he caused thousands
to sleep in piss?
I
can’t answer this for you – as independents of course you will
answer all of these things on your own. But I must say the one
thing: America, tear down that 21 year old drinking age! | 
