Larry Jankens's picture

    The Ghost of Reagan: A Neocon's Inexplicable Love

    Our friends over at salon.com have a series called, Ask a Wingnut, in which a former Bush official who wishes to remain nameless (I can only assume it’s Jeff Gannon) answers questions from wacky liberals about why conservatives do and think what they do. He goes by the moniker Glenallen Walken, borrowed from the fictional character of the television show The West Wing. This is fitting since he bases many of his arguments for neocon ideology in a fictional world.

    This past week he penned a column entitled Dear Wingnut, Ronald Reagan is dead. Time to move on! Gannon, er excuse me, Walken puts up a virulent defense as to why conservatives love to love Ronald Reagan. Which is indeed a mystery to progressives, people who aren’t rich and white, and anyone who lived through the eighties.

    Walken claims that Reagan accomplished three major things: 1) Restore America's national pride; 2) Revive an economy crippled by stagflation; and 3) Win the Cold War. Let’s look at these claims one by one.

    1) Restore America’s national pride
    Under Reagan the US had a despicable foreign relations record. It was under Reagan that the US sold billions of dollars of weapons to Iraq and Iran (whom we were playing against one another), the war lords in Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Millions of dollars and political support were given to tyrannical juntas in South American countries like Guatemala and Nicaragua. I don’t know about you, but giving American tax dollars to dictators, terrorists and known murdering sleaze bags (Saddam Hussein etc.) doesn’t make me swell with national pride. Oh, and don’t forget selling drugs (I can’t emphasize enough how disturbing this is) to fund covert CIA operations.

    2) Revive an economy crippled by stagflation
    When Carter was elected the country was facing double digit inflation. He appointed Paul Volker to the Fed and he purposely induced a recession to stem the inflation. By 1982 inflation was abated and Volker slashed interest rates and fueled the economy for the next 7 or so years. Reagan, and Carter for that matter, had little to do with the economy’s of their administrations.

    3) Win the Cold War
    We didn’t win the Cold War, Russia lost it. Russia did not end much of their official censorship and start sweeping economic reforms because of foreign pressure but because Russia was dying under the weight of the Stalinist system. The lack of freedom for its citizens stifled innovation and progress. Russia fell more because of our Founding Father’s ideals of freedom, equality and justice, not Reagan’s “Peace through strength.” They couldn’t even provide toothpaste for citizens for cripes-sakes.  How can you succeed as a country when everybody is getting cavities?

    I’m sorry to break it to Gannon, er Walken, but Reagan was not a good president.  Below are my three reasons why he sucked as a president.

    1) Reagan caused 9/11
    That’s right, I said it. Reagan caused 9/11. The neocons have this idea in foreign policy that the enemy of our enemy are our friends. And consequently, when Russia was messing around in Afghanistan the US gave the Afghani warlords millions of dollars worth of arms. After Russia left the US also left. Leaving the Afghan people under the control of crazy warlords armed to the teeth. Osama Bin Laden called this act “the great betrayal.” It was this betrayal that galvanized support for extremist groups like Al-Qaeda and hence, 9/11. The Reagan administration f*cked the middle east, and gave birth to a demon.

    2) Homelssness, Americans without healthcare, Americans living in poverty skyrocketed
    Take your pick of devastatingly bad domestic policies: trickle down economics (aka f*ck you poor people), deregulating the Mental Healthcare system (aka f*ck you mentally disabled), or revising the Glass Steagall Act which directly caused the Savings and Loans disaster (f*ck you people who want to invest their money and make sure crooks don’t steal it and then have the government bail them out). Reagan seemed to have a penchant for giving the American people a big f*ck you.

    3) Reagan started the country down the neocon path
    It was the Reagan administration that enacted the neocon philosophies that have systematically destroyed this country (you know, GWB). When you think of the Bush II, think of Reagan, because with out him, Bush II would have never gotten into office.

    Glenallen Walken, who is too scared to let people know his real name, seems to be drinking kool-aid laced with neocon LSD that makes the past transgressions by the right wing heroes really seem like actual heroes. Don’t believe the hype folks. Not only was Reagan not a good president, he might have been one of our worst.

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    Comments

    And you didn't even mention the back-channel dealing with Iran that usurped the outgoing president's authority and may have actually prolonged the captivity of hundreds of U.S. embassy employees. Reagan floated above, but was ultimately responsible for, nasty power games in which ordinary citizens were just pawns.


    What are you on, Larry? Reagan was a fantastic president. He totally outdebted the Soviets with his tax cuts for the wealthy and uncontrolled military spending. There was no way for them to keep up with our massive debt or our incredible military technology, such as the Star Wars missile defense system. Yeah, giant lasers!


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