I Remember Reagan
WED APR 04, 2012 AT 06:48 PM PDT
The Real Reagan Years
byBuckeye Nut SchellFollow
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I was in the Navy under Reagan.
First thing I tell people who try to revise history is that "Unlike many of the Reagan worshippers I talk to, I actually remember the Reagan years."
Those were years when Reagan campaigned on his outrage that the National debt was almost a trillion dollars and it was an outrage that we were leaving our children such a burden (when he left office the debt was three trillion).
I remember thinking what a coincidence it was that the day he took office, the Iranian hostages were set free only to find out later that they were held longer as a political stunt and that an agreement for arms with our enemy was made to flank congress and financially support the Contras.
I remember him trying to say ketchup was a vegetable for school lunches.
I remember the homeless mentally ill in California because he let them out of the hospitals to save money.
I remember the military buildup of the military industrial complex that was a race to bankruptcy that fortunately the USSR beat us to because they were fighting unnecessary wars in Afghanistan.
I remember Reagan joking about launching a nuclear holocaust and thinking that was just an amusing joke.
I remember political stunts like going to the Berlin Wall demanding that Mr. Gorbechev tear it down after it was a foregone conclusion.
I remember thinking that trickle down economic theory sounding like the rich pissing down our backs and telling us it was raining (I still do for that matter).
I remember him firing all of the Air Traffic Controllers and refusing to negotiate in good faith even though their complaints were legitimate and public safety was their key concern.
I remember thinking that this charismatic old man reminded me of my grandpa and that people liked him because of his demeanor but how could anyone approve of his policies. That he was the ultimate figure head.
I remember how after he was shot, when he removed his hat, standing at the Air Force One, I realized that our president was senile.
I remember thinking that Reagan’s Legacy would be defined by the Iran Contra Scandal, the Savings & Loan scandal and the eventual discovery that he probably had Alzheimer’s for most of his second term.
But I never thought that anyone would look to him as the greatest president ever and think that he deserved to be revered for his actions. His actions directly led to the destruction of the middle class and the current wave of conservative crazy...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/04/1080770/-The-Real-Reagan-Years
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