My goodness, friends. How long has it been? A couple months, I know. I apologize. But I've put the selfish acts of others behind me now and am ready to move on.
So much has happened since my last post that I feel no matter what I comment about tonight, I'll be leaving something big out. Might as well give it a shot:
Ronald F'ing Reagan's body finally died. That took long enough. Not to pass judgement posthumously on the man (I passed enough while he was still alive), but I'm not sure I see where all this praise is coming from. If you actually sit down and look at his failures as a president, it's remarkable.
Here's a list of the Gipper's 10 Greatest Hits (in no particular order):
1. Laying waste to many poor Central & South American countries in order to protect American interests. Of note: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama, Guatemala and Honduras, just to name a few. He waged illegal wars and funded brutal militias who committed many war crimes and attrocities. Such as the Salvadoran death squads responsible for the genocide of some 75000 people. The CIA was working directly with those death squads. These countries are still reeling from the effects of this corporately motivated and very illegal campaign.
2. His stance on civil rights and issues of race. Perhaps some of you (if you're old enough) remember that Reagan himself coined the term "welfare queen". In 1980 he kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a place made famous when three young civil-rights workers were murdered in 1964 for registering African Americans to vote. What did Ronnie have to say? He declared that "I believe in state's rights" Said at a time when Mississippi still had yet to ratify the 13th ammendment, something they didn't do until the 90s. Then, after he was elected, he threatened to veto an extension of the Civil Rights Act, fought to abolish affirmative action, and vetoed sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Black America hadn't faced such a threat since the Civil Rights movement of the 60s.
3. AIDS. Reagan ignored it. He viewed it as a Gay Plague, and even referred to it using the defunct acronym GRIDS (Gay Related Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). He refused to provide adequate funding which, even if it meant that medical advances only came out a few months earlier, could have saved thousands of lives. His administration even reportedly joked about his ignorance of the epidemic. When Larry Speakes, then White House Press Secretary, was asked about AIDS he was quoted as saying: "What's AIDS?" followed by laughter in the press room.
4. He appointed Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. I don't even need to explain why that was an evil act.
5. Iran-Contra. Reagan signed a secret document authorizing the CIA to conduct operations against the Marxist-leaning Sandanista government in Nicaragua. To fund the operation, and secure american hostages in Iran, the CIA sold weapons to Iran then funneled to money to the anti-Sandanista militia known as the Contras. The Contras were a bad bunch of guys. Much akin to the aforementioned Salvadoran death squads.
6. The Reagan Economy. Reagan cut taxes and increased spending. He oversaw a tripling of the national debt, from $909 billion, to $2.6 trillion. He resided over the worst recession we had seen at the time since the great depression. Median pay for workers fell almost 20%. Unemployment soared. Homelessness rised obscenely. To attempt to cover the gap, Reagan cut social services. Sound familiar?
7. Star Wars. The neo-con pundits will have you believe that because Reagan spent more money than any other cold war president on defense, that he somehow outspent the USSR and ultimately defeated the Soviets. Actually, Perestroika had been building in the USSR for decades. If Ronnie's excess spending had anything to do with it, it only sped the process up by a year at most. In the process, he essentially "re-froze" the cold war and ruined any thawing under Nixon. Meanwhile, billions were being funelled into an unproven, and highly unfeasible defense plan called Star Wars. We will never get that money back.
8. "Bombing begins in five minutes." Not just a bad joke told at a bad time, but a very real threat. Reagan oversaw the largest ammount of Nuclear proliferation and stockpiling of any president before him. In total disregard of both Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties, and disarmament groundwork laid down by both Eisenhower and Nixon. Good work keepin us safe Ron.
9. Terrorism. Not only did Ronnie choose to invade Grenada instead of respond to the Libyan bombing of Marine barracks which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of marines, but he also funded some of today's most well known terrorists. Back in the 80s, the USSR was fighting a war in Afghanistan. The CIA, under orders from the White House, was training an insurgent army known as the mujahadeen. Well, I think we all know what happened to the remnants of the mujahadeen, don't we? That's right folks, Osama Bin Laden. He's using his CIA training and turning it around on us. Thanks Ron!
10. Saddam Hussein. In 1983, Donald Rumsfeld, under the direction of Ronald Reagan, traveled to Iraq. Rumsfeld pledged the US' support for Iraq's campaing against Iranian expansion. Prior to this meeting, in 1982, the State Department took Iraq of the list of states sponsoring terrorism, which allowed the US to conduct trade with Iraq. Specifically the arms trade. By 1984, America had officially restored full formal relations with the Ba'athist regime. All this time, the US had been selling conventional and non-conventional weapons to Iraq, including chemical and biological weapons. These weapons were used against Iranians, and Iraq's own ethnic Kurd population. The US knew about this before, during, and after selling the weapons to Saddam. State Department documents dated as early as 1982 back up this claim. It wasn't until 1988 that the United States stopped supplying Saddam, and officially took a stance against his use of chemical weapons.
Now, I know that by limiting myself to only 10 things, I'm leaving out a big chunk of Ronnie's presidency. Like environmental issues, women's issues, a ton of other economic issues, domestic issues, etc ad nauseum....
But the reason I highlight these 10 items is because I want you to see that this man's legacy is responsible, directly and indirectly, for almost all of America's problems at the moment. If I were to walk up to any Joe Schmo on the street and ask him to name three of America's worst problems, I'm willing to bet they would be the economy, terrorism, and Iraq.
1. Economy - George W. worships Reagan and has based most of his economic policies on the Reagan administration. He is also carrying on his father's legacy, who was Ronnie's VP as well as serving directly after Reagan.
2. Terrorism - Without the CIA funding of the mujahadeen, there would be no Osama Bin Laden. That is an indisputable fact.
3. Iraq - Hussein would have never been considered so formidable if the US hadn't armed him and helped him create the fifth largest army in the world. If we hadn't turned a blind eye to his use of chemical weapons, we could have possibly put a stop to this mess a long time ago, rather than continuing to sell him the weapons in question. To quote Paul Mooney: Why is George Bush so sure that Saddam has WMD? "Because he has the receipt"
I'm hoping someday (hopefully soon) the Gipper's real legacy will shine through. This is an obvious lesson in how even though one man can only serve as president for eight years at most, his actions in office could persist for a lifetime. We must learn from these acts, and stop ourselves before we find the cycle repeating itself.
Tune in tonight when I discuss all things Reagan (including some choice quotes, like the "bombing begins..." one) and also talk about other issues.
-slacker
