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Reagan Was Just a Man by Bolivar Now
that the storms have calmed down – the pandering of the media and the
fawning of a great president by his people – we can safely and without
enmity criticize the man who led our country for nearly a decade. Or am I
delusional for thinking it’s really safe to criticize our leaders when
we have worshiped and revered them to no end? If
we want to gauge the direction and ideals of our country, we should always
consider how people view their leaders. Because in the manner that we
treat the servants of the State, we take an honest appraisal whether any
desire to be self-governed remains. We take measure of the liberty The
endless television coverage and commentary of Ronald Reagan’s death
peeled away the national consciousness and revealed a population of
Americans gripped by emotionalism and the fancy overtures of the State.
History repeated itself as the population sought to anoint another man as
the supreme embodiment of their hopes and fears--a high priest, if you
will--a divine oracle espousing what we want and doing what we care not
and refuse to do: live our lives with personal responsibility. Reagan
was just a man. But he was more than that--he was a great politician. He
talked the big talk of liberty, of smaller government, of restoring values
of freedom. He was no hero firefighter caught in the flames of a daring
rescue. He was a politician backed by powerful, special interests just the
same as Republicans and Democrats before him. He came screaming onto the
national scene of the 1980 debates decrying the sorry state of the U.S.
Empire. One must see that our intelligence was gutted, our Russian
competitors gaining on us, our military puppets around the world chomping
at the bit, inflation rates out of control and gas prices pinching our
budgets. All
of this would pass away in a dark dream of Carteresque blundering and
international timidity. A political savior had arrived. But what did he
save us from? And what did he give us? As Reagan said in the 1984
presidential campaign, it was “morning in Conservatives
loved Reagan, and liberals liked him too. I
cannot help but think that the winning smiles and inspiring speeches about
liberty were part of a ploy on the part of politicians to win over our
affections as they systematically stole more of our earnings and
liberties. Growing up, I was fascinated by Reagan’s presidential
qualities, his moral justification for our arms race against the Reagan
is credited for ending the Cold War. This is about as true as saying that
the propaganda posters of World War II, rather than the atomic bombs on
unsuspecting civilians, are what won the bloody conquest of Conservative
and “Libertarian” columnists eulogized Reagan’s heroism and
brilliance ad nauseum, giving him the credit for single-handedly winning
the Cold War, reviving the American economy and bringing back our
“pride.” Liberal columnists have added their nauseum trying to blame
Reagan for the spread of AIDS and calling him an incompetent idiot. Both
sides are, as usual, in error and live under grand illusions that only
their version of government power is the right one. The
truth is that Reagan was a brilliant man. But he was also a politician. He
trounced George Bush I in the Conservative
columnist Jon Christian Ryter wrote in a NewsWithViews.com column that
“there is something inexplicably evil about people who try to steal the
last moment on Earth shared between a family and the dearly departed.”
Mr. Ryter is obviously upset that people criticized Regan’s legacy
before he was laid in the coffin in the cold ground. Well, this sounds a
bit like censorship to me. There was a time that people could not
criticize Joe Stalin even after he had died, so terrible and comprehensive
was the State system he left behind. I
would have to answer such nationalistic pundits and say a free people must
necessarily publish their political sentiments at all times, whether they
ruffle one’s feathers or not. We must not live under the delusion that
some mere mortal became a political messiah instead of seeing he was the
latest lobbyist for special interests in Reagan
was not the messiah that the media and the Conservative “Amen Corner”
would like us to believe. He grew the federal government at a tremendous
rate while increasing our federal deficit and handing us back our piddly
“tax cuts.” These cuts were nothing less than welfare handouts (sound
familiar?)--Republican chicanery to make us believe politicians were
“born again overnight.” Having repented of their wicked practices,
they did not stop spending our hard earned money, controlling the
education of children, meddling in international affairs, disturbing our
own markets and boycotts, and fighting an illegal war against the Soviet
machine which we increasingly looked more and more like. But
how could a brilliant man make seemingly idiotic statements under oath
that he did not “recall” selling arms to A
funny thing happened on the way to the Republic. Americans could not shake
this hero-worship that first idolized George Washington and which many
power-grabbers who rode on his coattails immediately exploited, including
the dastardly Reagan
was no different. After all, he was just a politician. He may have made
many references to God, morality and the Bible. But so did Bill Clinton.
The people wanted a leader who would give them a sense of confidence even
when the federal government continues its assaults upon their rights. Did
the federal control of states and towns grow any smaller under Reagan? Did
they leave people alone whose conscience dictated that the income tax was
an unlawful scam? Did the Marines die in “Mr.
Reagan gave some wonderful and inspiring speeches, but he often didn't do
a very good job of delivering on promises. Under his leadership, the
federal income tax code became far more complex than it had ever been, and
the tyrannies of the tax authority were not in any way reined in. Taxpayer
frustrations have only increased since the Reagan Administration, and
millions are looking for a way to ‘get out of the system.’” ~
Peter Kershaw, Corporation
Sole Problems In
my opinion the scandals, the military exploits, the arming of foreign
dictators, or the out of control spending of Reaganomics were not the
greatest failures of the Reagan administration. It was the Orwellian irony
in 1984 of Reagan signing a diabolical law that forced the involuntary
taxation and control of churches and private non-profit organizations in
the “A
State church is a church that is recognized by the State, serves the
State, provides revenue for the State, and serves a public purpose that is
not contrary to established public policy. This is exactly what was
decreed for churches of America.” ~ Dr. Robert
McCurry, Please
don’t expect me to shed tears for the death of this man. He was a
politician, but he was only a man. He will have to face his Maker, just as
Clinton and Bush will, to answer for the travesty of their actions and the
tyranny of their policies. Don’t lecture me about freedom and the
gratitude I owe him and the generals who served him. These are the same
men who armed Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. I owe the colonists who
spilled their blood on British soil so that I could write what freedom is
all about in the liberated colonies. But the politicians of late have
taken all that away. The Bible says that by their fruits you shall know
them. Did you really know Reagan? “The
presidency of Ronald Wilson Reagan has been a disaster for libertarianism
in the |
