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Leaders & Dictators
Remembering Ronald Reagan—a good, human president by Chuck Richardson I voted for Ronald Reagan twice, grew in time to deeply regret it, and then as more time passed grew to regret it less. His passing from the scene, a process that took a decade, created a power vacuum in the Republican Party—a void that was filled by conservatives who shared the old man’s objectives, but lacked his optimism, integrity and vision. What began with “morning in America” passed mid-day some time ago, and, coinciding with the great man’s passing, seems to have advanced into an uncertain night. As I matured, I came to respect Reagan not for his political and social views, per se, many of which I still find abhorrent, but for his integrity. You could disagree with him and be certain that you really disagreed. You also knew he was fundamentally decent, even if he was capable of serious hardball when pushed. For many of us, he was like dad or grandpa. You might totally disagree with them, but you wanted them around in a crisis because they were rock solid. Democracy worked pretty well with him and the likes of Tip O’Neill, the late Democratic House speaker from Massachusetts. Sure, there was corruption, etc., but one felt that at least the two parties in general represented two basic groups in American society. The days of Nixon and the malaise of Carter were gone. You won some, you lost some, but above all you let the people decide and behaved like gentlemen and women along the way. Reagan faltered in his second term, perhaps due to age, and the sharks circled. Nancy did her best to fend them off, but time was on the sharks’ side. They could smell blood, and it was driving them into a frenzy. Being sharks, they fed, as that was the behavior and character of the culture and water that spawned them. They eventually consumed the revolution and used its energy to carry them, and us, into our present situation. Reagan was consistently underestimated by his political opponents, who were blinded by the cynicism ingrained from Vietnam, Watergate, the Arab oil embargo, the taking of hostages in Iran, the destruction of the environment, the war on drugs and crime, the real effects of “trickle down (voodoo) economics,” and much, much more. I remember an episode of Saturday Night Live, in which there was a skit of Reagan playing the buffoon in public, and then behind closed doors revealing himself as the mastermind behind everything that was going on in the world—the Iran-Contra affair, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, involvement in Nicaragua, etc. It was funny at the time because it seemed so unrealistic. But over time, especially with the release of Reagan’s letters and diaries, the image of him as a buffoon waned. That’s not to say he was detail oriented, he wasn’t, but he was firm in what he believed, and knew how to express it in a way that average people could understand. That’s how he was able to destroy the brilliant Jimmy Carter in their debates, with the simple line of “there you go again.” The old man saw something in America his opponents and predecessors rejected—the profound goodness of the average American citizen. His philosophy was simple: give them the freedom and responsibility to control their own lives at the local level and the American dream will be revived. He was right, and though he changed the country’s mood, he failed at shifting power from Washington to Main Street. The deficit, he said upon leaving office, was his “deepest regret.” There wouldn’t have been a deficit if the Democratic Congress agreed to shift control to the local level, in effect decentralizing power, because it didn’t trust America’s hometown politics. Of course, there was ample reason for this distrust, as there is today. But Reagan recognized that if one could minimize the scope of power at the top, keeping it broadly dispersed among responsible citizens at the base, people would live better lives. Reagan’s vision was that of a pyramid, with the federal government at the top being the smallest, and the local government at the bottom being the broadest and deepest. The liberal vision was that of an inverted pyramid. Both Reaganites and liberals, however, were blind to the nefarious influence of corporations, whose dominionist theology of free market economics threatened everything each party stood for. The military-industrial complex was something each supported at the highest level, recognizing that the way to ever-greater power and wealth could only be maintained through military superiority. Of course, no matter how mythologized one becomes, as in President Reagan’s case, the fact is we’re only human. Which leads me to the conclusion that, as far as human presidents go, Ronald Reagan was a very good one. Being only a man, his policies and views were deeply flawed. But recognizing the deep complexity of the world, how reality emerged from the one-on-one relationships of people exercising their God given right of free will, he possessed the humility to surrender any hope of ever truly understanding life. He was open and honest about that, accepting that life was ultimately a great mystery. Only God knew, and having faith in God was good enough for him. So he simplified things, and decided to stand up for them and showed great courage in doing so. Like him or not, he was the central character behind the end of the cold war. It’s too bad, however, that “revolutions” last longer than their usefulness. What began with Reagan 24 years ago, the rightward shift of American politics, seems like all popular television shows to have run its natural course. The new characters just don’t have it and the writers have run out of ideas. It exists out of habit, or inertia, but its vision is dead. Time to bury it, pay your respects, and move on. About the Author(s): Chuck Richardson is editor of Niagarabuzz.com. An experienced poet, journalist, newspaper columnist, produced playwright and award-winning literary critic, he is putting the finishing touches on his first book--Memos from Apartment 5--available soon from PageFree Press. See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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