The Ronald Reagan Statue - the Ultimate Lipstick on a Pig

By Rack Jite

With President Obama and the Widow Nancy Reagan dedicating a bronze statue of the good and gone President Ronald Reagan this one needs to be revisited. Hopefully not too far in the future Americans will raise the concept of reason and education above dogma and religion (I wouldn't hold by breath though), and put down their guns (I wouldn't hold by breath though) long enough to do something unAmerican, think a thing trough! Then rent a truck and some chain and pull down that stature along with all it stood for (wealthy callous disregard) and drag it though the streets hitting it with our shoes... And socks! We got socks... The biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression finally got the American people to think about their vote rather than just blindly accept whatever stupid conservative homilies came their way. Which has been the status quo since November 1980. No politician or President has ever enjoyed the success that Ronald Reagen has enjoyed for doing literally nothing other than creating an all encompassing visceral hatred of the United States government. Looking back it seems that the only reasoning for this has been the anger directed at our acceptance of progressive taxation which asks the wealthy - Ronald Reagan and the GOP - to pay a higher percentage in taxes than the rest of us. For all their screeching about less and smaller government not only did both Conservative Republicans Ronald Reagan and George W Bush administrations enlarge the government but they each increased the deficit each year and more than doubled our national debt. The party of Borrow and Spend. For over a century Republicans having been screaming and hollering about how unfair things are to the wealthy. That we must forever reduce their taxes so we can be more effectively tinkled down upon. But it has historically been only a minority of the wealthy who listened. Until a trained actor arrived upon the scene with Hollywood Hair, always surrounded by American flags and rattled off ancient meaningless homilies that caused an entire nation to become mesmerized. First let us go over the most prevalent of Ronald Reagan's soundbites which caused middle America to so hate the government:

Government is not the solution, government is the problem. The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders. Man is not free unless government is limited. The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it. People do not make wars; governments do. Today, if you invent a better mousetrap, the government comes along with a better mouse. The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away. Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves. Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.

Next are a few mindless zingers that make George W.Bush seem an intellectual:

We should declare war on North Vietnam. We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home by Christmas. What we have found in this country, and maybe we're more aware of it now, is one problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice. My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes. Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at? You know, if I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough, I would be convinced we're in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we've got to do something about the unemployed.

And not to forget how without ever going to church he sold himself and the GOP to the Religious Right:

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. We are never defeated unless we give up on God. Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

No American has hurt this nation and the people in it more than the 8 years we suffered under Ronald Reagan, the worst president in American History.