The Legacy of Reagan

The Legacy of Ronald Reagan

It is hard to imagine looking at this year's Republican Primary and wondering where in the hell have all the conservatives gone. There exists in the annals of the GOP, many giants. Nelson Rockefeller comes to mind though to be honest he was more Democratic in his leaning than ever Republican. There was also Javits a senator from New York, Brooke of Massachusetts. Let's not forget Ike who warned the nation about the Military Industrial Complex. Add to this list, Drisken and many others. These men were all politicians but somehow they contributed to the great experiment. They had ideas, they promoted programs, they advocated policies. In short, they helped to steer the great ship of state through the troubled waters of time. Where have men of this caliber gone?
I think the fall of the Republican party began with the ascent of its recent icon, The Gipper. Ronald Reagan stands at the juncture between meaningful dialogue and manufactured bullshit, better known as “spin.” Reagan made stupid an art form. He could disarm and counterpoint the most salient of points with a down home, “There you go again.” Reagan was the senile grandfather whose greatest gift was his ability to make stupid seem common sense.
History shows that during the campaign for the presidency he won that he was dimwitted, not unlike a recent soccer mom with a pit bull ego. When asked serious questions, he showed nothing but confusion about history and geography. In fact, some analysis of his behavior suggest that he may have already been suffering from Alzheimer's. In the early going of that campaign, it was clear by his operatives and his wife that he was not up to the give and take of the campaign. What happened was that all of his contact thereafter was staged. The great modern conservative icon was scripted.
What is significant about this turning point in politics is that dumb became the new common sense. People related to Reagan, in large measure, because he was one of them. His smile and demeanor always at the ready played to the American sense that you didn't need to be smart. In fact, there was once a popular bumper sticker, that proclaimed, “if you so damn smart, why ain't you rich.” It was at this time “trickle down” economics became popular. The idea was if the rich had enough money, they would create opportunity. There was also something called the Lafer Curve used to prove supply side economics, and was about as sound as using a sieve to hold water. This popular leader played the tune of cliches and non statements that got the populace dancing. A program at the time, The Lives of the Rich and Famous extolled the virtue of excess and the masses sat in their homes and lived vicariously. Another push at the time was the assault on government. Regulations became the bane of the Republic. And of course, the ghouls who pushed this once B actor onto the main stage waited with baited breaths as the checks to their greedy nature were stripped away giving them full reign to do whatever they wish to do. What followed was the Savings and Loan Debacle.
The south plays into this revolution. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act and their inability to control the Democratic Conventions with their arcane penchant for segregation in all its ugly expressions, they flocked to the Republican Party and began with the slow sure progression of a malevolent force to seize control. Against this backdrop, enter the Elmer Gantries who with the help of hired guns like Reed and Atwater shaped public discourse with hate and fear.
It is a sad commentary that one party out of two is so far removed from the century we are living and the issues we are facing. Intolerance seems to be an underlying theme. Santorum can actually call out a president for being for education. It is absurd, when education has been the corner stone of all progress. I know the Senator is a Roman Catholic, and I would like him to point to one progressive act the church has taken in last one thousands years. I would dare say that the Rome of today would probably censor the Jesus of Biblical times for his positions expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. The irony of this current primary is that candidates can proclaim outright foolishness and prove their point by saying it is what I believe. It is like Reagan standing there on the platform and rather than answering the question come out with his “Aw shucks, there you go again.” The only thing more scary than that is me learning that after the primary season, the Republican candidate takes up the violin.
A great nation does not fall because of its lofty goals but its belief in things that have long outlived their usefulness.

Reflections From The Tropics

The amazing thing about the new right is that individually and collectively they are so self absorb in their twisted logic that to prove their outlandish position they need need to revise history, name call, outright lie or bend the facts. The conclusions they reach defy science and common sense. For example, they argue that the deficit is the chief problem but they don't want to raise revenues to reduce the deficit and if that wasn't enough they want to double down with tax cuts. The irony of this logic is that what they want to do will only exacerbate the deficit. It is so ironic that in the face of these deficits, most still rattle the sabers calling for more military expenditures. They also feel that business needs to be unshackled for its potential to be realized. They argue that any government regulation is onerous. A cursory look at the history of abuses of industry in this nation shows example after example where the public health and safety was compromised in the pursuit of profit. From child labor to the love canal to the financial collapse in any decade, we find greed and outright corruption at the heart of each and ever disaster. A most recent example of this insane approach to non intervention is the antics of Halliburton, a connected company, overcharging the government in Iraq. Unregulated business is but an open door to the law of jungle.
What is most striking about this new conservatism is those who elbow their way into the public eye and who bring equal amounts of bombast and viciousness to their glib critiques of anything outside of their limited political philosophy. They have mastered the art of name calling. They are little more than the executioner in the public square or the cruel and sadistic Caesar turning his thumb down towards the crowd. It is sad but true that we humans have a sick propensity for violence and enjoy both inflicting and observing it. It is to this perverse side of our nature that these ghouls of conservatism play to. That they are successful in their efforts causes me to shudder for out of this insanity lies the death, chaos, and mayhem of man's inhumanity to man as exemplified in the genocide so replete in human history. This collection of mad antagonists sow the seeds of hate. They care not for the consequences of their actions. As a result, political hacks looking to take advantage of public sentiment kowtow to these fools The sad result is a nation divided, a dead lock congress, an ineffectual president and a country incapable of dealing with the issues that need addressing. The antagonists drone on pushing the lemmings to the cliff's edge. What awaits is the pit of decline, wherein a great nation collapses into a fragment of what it was and its potential withers under the strain of hate, intolerance and ignorance.
Against this backdrop parade the fools who proclaim they are ready to play the tune so the lemmings will find some measure of calm as they hurry towards their sad fate. Fools and protagonists form a chorus whose shrill voices sing the song of a past history that existed only in the mind of the deluded. The masses crowd into cathedrals of ignorance nodding and cheering each and every inanity. Their cacophonous utterances drown out any hint of reason or science. Their only desire is to see any liberal skewed on their skews of indifference. “To hell with education” “To hell with the rights of women” “Death to the unbelievers” Then, with a pause, they stand to sing the National Anthem, though no one knows the words and they fill the empty spaces with monosyllables that tax their cognitive abilities. Slaves to simplistic explanations, they nod and affirm the nonsense they are fed.
Liberals are no better. They cling to a promise of equality while they hurry to whore themselves to the moneyed class. They, when given the opportunity to change things, procrastinate waiting for the succor from the moguls. They crave money so they will be able to continue in their role. Even the staunchest ones among this collection are tarnished with the benefits accruing to their station. Their idealism long ago sold away for thirty pieces of silver. Their constituents hold to the belief that their representatives are doing good, but the reality is that liberal and conservative dance the dance of politics which demand that the spoils be evenly distributed though the majority gets just a little more.
Our country has always had a spotted history. We freed the slaves but held them in chains with Jim Crow Laws. We offered reforms in the stock market after the crash only to unleash insatiable hogs who dreamed up schemes with the help of rocket scientists. We talk of worker safety while we send the coal miners down to their tombs. We sacrifice the good earth. We sacrifice our youth to misadventures. All the while deceiving ourselves with bullshit. America isn't so beautiful when looking from the window of a tenement while your child wheezes from the stifling air. All the while those who have made it to the pinnacle of the dung heap complain about food stamps as their distended bellies push away the excesses of their greedy eyes. Their offal more food then some children in some distant land will see in their short lives because hunger will snuff out their brief life.
As I sit and write this, I too am part of the pampered lucky ones. I have been able to eat my way into obesity. I have been able to draw dole from the Treasury for services rendered. I have gamed the system and am able to do things that others before me couldn't even dream about. I have stood and observed things that defy description, like a sunset from the deck of ship in the middle of the ocean. I have broken bread with those who haven't a worry about finances. I have heard them decry the liberals for wanting too much. I have heard them begrudge the poor for the relief they receive. All the while, they bask in the benefits of a system designed that allowed them great wealth. It is an irony the satirist Mort Sahl described in this fashion, The Rich Conservative Believes He Deserves Everything He Stole.