I wasn't going to write about Reagan, but then something reminded me...

[siercia]

of the pivotal role the man played in shaping my political mind map.

Let me explain...

My dad is a dyed in toe wool Republican, I suspect of the more traditional, Goldwater-republican stripe than the ugly neo-con stripe that's all the rage now. Not that I've asked him, because really, he and I generally don't discuss politics. Anyway, he's always been very active in the Republican party in my howntown - he's ran for state legislature, served on the school board for about 10 years, has managed countless local and state level campaigns. I really respect that.

Because HE was so involved, we kids were pretty involved too - it was fun to go out and pass out leaflets, fun to work behind the scenes at headquarters, even fun to do phone calling and working the polls on election day. And for most of the Reagan years, I was really too young to have my own political opinions; I was a sophmore in high school in November of 1988. So yes, I was a Reagan booster in my youth.

Then in high school, I made friends with a girl named Laura. And she was politically aware, and about as far to the left as the neo-cons are to the right. And one day she and I got started on politics, and she schooled me in all the ways that "Reagan sucked". And I'm sure I was partly motivated by the fact that this girl was cool as shit, but what she was saying just made sense to me. And I walked into my parents house with "Reagan Sucks" emblazoned on my backpack that night.

I like to joke that it was the closest I ever came to getting kicked out of my parent's home. Thinking harder about it, I'm not even sure my Dad even said a word about it; but that was certainly the end of my days hanging out at Republican headquarters with my Dad. While I grow more conservative as I age, I'm still pretty frothy at the mouth liberal, and a good deal of that is due to the actions of the Reagan-BushSr administration. I still disagree with most everything the man did while in office, but Shrub has sure proven that things could have been a LOT worse.

So I can say thank you, Mr. Reagan. Thank you for being such an easy target that my 14 year old mind could easily wrap around your perceived failures, form her own identity and take a neat and clean, two-word unassailable teenaged position on the matter.

I remember being at some kind of function with my Dad years later, where the speaker was a news media type, and was talking about how universally stupid everyone assumed Reagan to be. Not, I think stupid and harmful like Shrub, but in a clueless bumbling kind of a way. My Dad insisted that he wasn't stupid at all - it was the act he played so that he could make an end run around the media machine (and maybe the Congress too). Somehow, I expect my Dad was right.

My heart goes out to those who are mourning him. The only thing worse than losing someone you loved has got to be watching people celebrate the death.

Comments

[metalliman502.livejournal.com]

lmao i'm surprised you didn't get kicked out for that. the one thing about dad is that he doesn't care what party you register with just as long as you register and vote. I obviously don't remember the Reagan years at all but from what i have come to uderstand is that he was one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century.

[siercia]

There are many people who believe that to be true. There are many others who think he may rank among the worst. Depends on your point of view, as well as whether you choose to look at the successes on his watch, or the failures. Also on how much credit you give the man for his significant accomplishments - for example: how much of a role DID he play in ending the Cold War? Did the Soviet Union fail because of his intervention, or were they already sliding into ruin, that maybe he just helped them along a little bit?

Many criticize him for ignoring the AIDS epidemic, for refusing to address apartheid in South Africa, for domestic crug policies that slashed budgets for treatment centers while increasing jail time for even minor possesion convictions, and did nothing really except swell prison populations while increasing the incentive for drug dealer (higher penalties means justification for higher costs, which means greater profits for those who DON'T get caught).

Looking backward with our 20/20 hindsight, we can see that perhaps training Saudis to help the Afghanis fight the Russians might not have been our smartest move (can you say bin Laden? I can.)

The jury is still out on trickle-down economics, although most economists have decried it for years, and there's really no proof that it did do us any good.

*shrug* I think it's a matter of opinion, viewpoint and belief systems that decides whether you think he was great, terrible, or somewhere in the middle. I think I'd lean towards somewhere in the middle, slightly towards the terrible side. Of course, if you ask Dad, he'll tell you the man could walk on water. =)

[metalliman502.livejournal.com]

lol you're right about dad considering he's the one who said he was probably one of the top presidents of the 20th century. eh i'm too young to remember him in office but considering i'm less republican then i was 5 years ago i probably wouldn't have cared for the guy then had i been old enough to be political.