{jarrod::22.berkeley.queer::likes:harm reduction.succulents.swimming.bicycles.cute animals.food and food justice.feminism.rainbows puking rainbows (and variations thereof).public health.language::dislikes:physics.oppression [patriarchy!].ginger.carroway seeds.}
reagan-was-a-horrible-president:
Reagan is, almost universally, a Republican hero. For those who were alive during his term as president, I kind of get it. The past almost usually seems rosier in hindsight, especially as the disastrous policies of Reaganomics weren’t truly felt until the the financial crisis in 2008. Back in the 80s, there were still a lot of blue collar jobs with good salaries and benefits. America’s economy was powerful. The Soviet Union was still around, and nobody really thought about terrorism. In hindsight, all of that seems pretty good. I can understand why my parents fondly remember the Reagan years.
What I don’t understand, however, is why anyone my age could feel anything other than utter loathing of this terrible president. I was alive during the Reagan years, but I was too young to form memories. One of my earliest memories is in 1992, deciding that I liked the Democrats better than Republicans because Bill Clinton looked warm and friendly while George Bush looked like a shriveled old ghoul.
Point is, I never got to remember Reagan’s years in office. I had to learn about them. And I remember we were in the middle of learning about his presidency when he died, back in 2004, and I remember thinking one of the first spiteful, bitter political thoughts of my life: “good”. Because, dear readers, when you actually learn about what Reagan did to this fair land of hours, you too will be glad he’s dead, and you too will hate him. If you have any decency, that is.
Let’s start with AIDS, where Reagan is one of the greatest villains of a sick tragedy. He refused to speak about it publicly, refused to take action, refused to do anything except let those afflicted die. By not raising awareness - and let’s face it, few are better equipped than the President to raise awareness of an issue - he let people die. He let people get infected because they didn’t know about AIDS. He even prevented the Surgeon General from speaking out for a long time. Administration officials referred to AIDS in horrible ways, like calling it God’s revenge on the gays. Just those homos and drug users getting what they deserve! Their blood is on Reagan’s hands, because he did nothing but stigmatize and shame AIDS.
And speaking of bloody hands, how could we forget the Drug War? You know, that horribly expensive human rights nightmare that’s bankrupting state and local governments? That’s Reagan. In 1987, he signed a huge drug war bill into law that featured incredibly racist sentencing disparities. That is, mandatory minimum for cocaine (largely used by affluent whites) were relatively light, while mandatory minimums for crack (largely used by poor minorities) were absurdly, cruelly draconian. Thanks to Reagan, we have wrecked generations of minority and low-income communities by throwing them in prison for years. Thanks to Reagan, we have the largest prison population in the world. Not largest per capita, just the largest. More people in America, home of the free, are in jail than there are in China, which has four times our population. That is Reagan’s legacy.
And then we have his godawful economic policies. Before Reagan, there was sort of a compact between American workers and corporations. The employees would work hard, would be very diligent, and in turn the employers would take care of them good salaries, benefits, and regular raises. This compact helped build American industrial might since the 40s. All that changed under Reagan.
Under Reagan, it became an adversarial process, and because Reagan worshiped business, the businesses won. And look what it did to income inequality. Under Reagan, the top 5% and the top 5th of Americans overall saw their proportional share of wealth increase, while the bottom fifth’s share fell further. Rising income inequality was exacerbated by deep cuts to social welfare, which made things even worse for the poorest Americans. Nothing trickled down because, in fact, Reaganomics is nothing more than the government allowing corporations to plunder and loot the country of usable wealth and transform it into huge bank accounts, vast sums of money that never get spent. Think of it as austerity measures lite. And we’re about to experience the full force of austerity measures today, given all the talk about “tough” decisions from wealthy lawmakers who will never feel the pain of the spending they cut.
Before Reagan, workplace shootings were all but unheard of. Under the corporate climate Reagan helped foster, which prized executive bonuses above humane things like giving your workers a decent wage or even safe working conditions. Reaganomics saw the squeezing of the American worker, and every round of layoffs and outsourcing was accompanied by a fresh round of executive bonuses. This climate of fear and stress led to workplace shootings, although we didn’t truly see this until the 90s when Reagan’s policies had time to metastasize to every company.
I’ve written about disingenuous and shameless Republican mythologizing blue collar and middle class Americans, and Reagan exemplified it. Heard of the Alternative Minimum Tax? It was originally imposed in the late 60s to close tax loopholes. Very high-income houses, through playing with the tax code, paid no income tax. The AMT was designed to fix that by setting out new items that the government could levy taxes on - things owned by corporations and wealthy people.
Reagan fixed that communist problem. He shifted the AMT to go after deductions that the middle class takes - items related to owning homes and raising children. Reagan shifted the tax burden off of wealthy Americans and corporations and onto the middle class, and any lower income people aspiring to be middle class. Republicans love to talk about class warfare, but they never seem to mention when their side does it.
This just scratches the surface, of course. His foreign policy was pure cowardice, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. He knew that the Soviet Union was broke and couldn’t sustain an arms race, and that’s what led to the military buildup. Anyone who paid attention could have realized that the USSR was rotting at the seems, and was being led by a gerontocracy that just wanted things to hold together until they died. There’s nothing brave about playing a game of brinksmanship against an opponent who can’t win - it’s like congratulating yourself on being a ballsy poker player for going all-in when you can see the other guy’s cards.
The Iran-Contra scandal, of course, should have ruined him. Selling weapons to Iran, the country that hates us most, in order to raise money to fund Nicaraguan death squads? There were laws against selling weapons to Iran, and there were laws against giving money to the Contras. Reagan did both. He should’ve gone to jail. Oliver North should’ve gone to jail. Instead, Reagan is a conservative icon and Oliver North is a respected voice in conservative politics. This, of course, is because the elite Republicans have no shame or morals, and the rank-and-file Republicans have memories like goldfish.
Reagan didn’t believe in acid rain and fought tooth and nail against EPA regulation of anything. Hell, his administration used Superfund money, money intended to clean up environmental hellholes, to fund Republicans in state and local elections. There’s more, but I’ve written 1200 words. That’s enough of an indictment. Point is, if you were born in the 80s and you like Reagan, you should absolutely hate Reagan and all of his works.
And so in 2004, Reagan died. Six months later, we had an election. For leftists, 2004 should have been a great year. A hated villain dies, and then we get to kick Bush out of office. But it didn’t happen that way. Reagan was eulogized to such a mawkish, sentimental degree that should have embarrassed even the most die-hard Reagan supporter. And then, in keeping with the grotesque circus that is American politics, we re-elected Bush and flung the whole damn country into the abyss. In 2011 we are still feeling the effects of Reagan and the effects of Bush. While Reagan may be in hell (and may Bush join him speedily), he can at least comfort his wicked, bile-choked heart by knowing that his legacy continues to make life harder for a hell of a lot of people.
^^THIS is a good over-view of some of the evil things that Ronald Reagan did to our country. Even though this is a litttle long for the average Tumblr-post, it’s very much worth reading if you are too young to remember why Ronald Reagan was a horrible President.
Love!
eff you reagan. srsly.
