None Dare Call it Treason

Ronald Reagon died earlier this week and today I awake to censure for not respecting his death enough. The media is pouncing on anyone with the gall to suggest that Reagon was not a full-fledged saint, under the guise of respect for the dead. They are peddling the notion that all of our countrymen, whether you liked Reagon or not, should be thankful for his service (as if our distaste was based on some personal vendetta). But its absurdly pretentious to say its not about whether you liked Reagan or not. Of course it is. For example, I can tell that most of the media does. It takes no more than a 4th grade education to notice the fundamental difference between the weeklong eulogizing of Reagan and the quick sweeping-over of the death of Nixon. Not because one served their country less than the other, but because Reagan has become a mythological figure in the eyes of the conservative movement in this country -the man who took the government from all those whiney, spineless liberals and handed it back to the free-market - and Nixon, well, was Nixon.

Unfortunately, I don't beleive we owe anything to Reagan, he served at our displeasure, not vice versa. A Nicaraquan immigrant whose parents were murdered by contra forces that Reagan shuffled money to, a father who saw his son taken by AIDS while Reagan dutifully ignored the epidemic or any other citizen of the U.S. who felt the negative impact of greater disparities in wealth and drastic cutbacks of basic social programs during his years do not owe a goddamn thing to Reagan except his or her well-earned indignation. The Presidency of the United States is a serious fucking job, one that affects in some way virtually every living being on the planet. That makes it a spectacular burden and responsibility. Many people, myself included, believe that Reagan not only negelected that responsibility, he bent it over and raped it in the ass. If Reagan wanted universal praise for his public service following his death, he should have sought to use that service to the benefit of a much larger group of people than he did.

The vast majority of the criticism I see and hear regarding the presidency of Reagan is in response to glorified versions (if not outright lies) of his Presidency. Those have to be answered with reality, whether Nancy likes to hear it or not. As we speak, Republicans are attempting to rename as many airports as possible in Reagan's name, put him on the dime and/or 100 bill, and add his graven image to Mt. Rushmore. Lack of criticism, for fear of being disrespectful, is the only lubrication these assholes need. Now is the time when conservatives will attempt to memorialize Reagan's legacy for all posterity, our silence will do no more than allow history to be rewritten to serve their purposes and undermine ours. Contrary to what many think, history can be a second in the making and people still die every day as a result of Reagan's myopic policies. We don't have the fucking time to wait decades to debate their merits.

I excoriated Reaganism when Reagan was President, after he left office and all this week. Unfortunately, the 12 years of his and Bush I's Presidency (and every day since then) fell far short of enough time to resolve those compliants.

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh." George Bernard Shaw