New National Holiday - Ronald Reagan's Birthday

In the soft, comfortable afterglow of the celebration some of us reveled in, of Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, a few days ago (February 6), let us be thankful for the annually stronger push by the right to continually add more and more levels to the pedestal we are placing under this figment of Americana, this grandfather of our country, this paragon of conservative virtue.

Um, but wait a sec. Let's take a quick look at some of the most interesting things about President Reagan's legacy … this courtesy of Think Progress.

Reagan lowered taxes … of course.

Not so much. He raised them every year in office, except for one - one year, eleven times! Yikes!

That Reagan … he was a budget balancer.

Depends on how you define "balancing the budget." If increasing the federal deficit by three times for a total that equalled the previous eighty years does not work for you as a good definition, then you might be out of luck.

Conservatives like Reagan (to the extent that you believe Reagan was indeed a Conservative) create jobs and lower unemployment.

Unemployment reached over 10% during Reagan's office (more than it is right now!), following a much-lauded tax cut, which benefitted, in typical Conservative fashion, the most well-off. Naturally, this would "trickle down" and the middle and lower classes would share the wealth. Except they didn't. The separation between the upper and lower classes grew more pronounced and almost as bad as what Bush, Jr.'s years have wrought.

Easy enough to cut that evil federal bureaucracy though. This is a gimme.

Defense spending increased to over $100 billion. The Department of Education, a habitual target of the right even today, remained - and a whole new federal department was created which currently employs 280,000.

Abortion … duh, duh, duh, dum!

As governor of California, Reagan signed into law liberal abortion legislation. As president, he appointed Sandra Day O'Connor who vowed never to vote against Roe V. Wade. O'Connor, on behalf of the court, wrote "at the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe and of the mystery of human life."

Reagan also hated immigrants.

Well, probably not. He signed law to grant amnesty to ALL illegal immigrants who had entered the country prior to 1982. This created millions and millions and millions of new Americans.

Don't forget that Reagan supervised (though one can question the propriety of that word) the illegal sale of weapons to Iran and Nicaraguan rebels (some would use the term "terrorists") in direct defiance of the U.S. Congress. Yes, our President sold arms to Iran.

But Reagan also was the top guy while the AIDS crisis developed into a full-blown epidemic. At least he could have appointed someone to look into that … right? But he didn't. And his neglect of AIDS, with ramifications to this day, resulted in the death of thousands and thousands. This was in the early stages of the disease when action and dissemination of information would have been incredibly impactful and would have saved lives. Well, score one for Conservatives.

The idea being that it's interesting how Reagan has become the paragon of conservatism for the modern American Right when it seems pretty clear that he wouldn't have like them … and they wouldn't have liked him. Were he to run now with the Palins and the Bachmans and even the Huckabees, et al, he wouldn't stand a chance and he would have been chased out of the party a long time ago. Funny that, no? Revisionism is trippy.

Somebody's legacy's just itching for a national holiday. So let's add him to the month of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

He was also responsible for numerous coup de tat's that overthrew governments in foreign countries. YAY!

Ok... Reagan gets a national holiday but we can't get Halloween upgraded to a national holiday?!

They gave him a Holiday????? He commited High Treason selling weapons to Iran and dealt with druglords to fund black ops...Might as well Give Oliver North a holiday aswell...

reply to post by ArieZ


No. Sorry to confuse. Reagan has not actually been recognized with an official "day-off" federal holiday ... yet. But there's most definitely a large movement to artificially deify the former actor with one of its goals, federal observance of his birth. Why Reagan was selected as a mythical progenitor for the modern conservative movement can be ascertained via the study of popular culture, contemporary marketing strategies and psychological illusions. It can not be ascertained by identifying parallels between Reagan's terms in office and the stated tenets and perceived agenda of conservatism nowadays.

Identifying this disparity between the actual Reagan and the revisionist Reagan, actually a tool of convenience for (mis)leading those desperate for heroes/leaders, regardless of sense, accuracy or historical obligation, was the intent of this thread ... and perhaps to also showcase why a holiday in honor of Reagan may not be so justified.

Hmmm.
Signed into law liberal abortion laws.
I didn't know that.
I do recall him breaking the Air Traffic Controllers Union and giving away the Panama Canal (the chinese control it know) and stopping the financial support for the mentally ill (sending thousands of deranged people out of hospitals and into the streets).
He did provide money and support to Poland for the sake of Perestroika. Even though it was Regan who said,"Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall" it was the tenacity of the Polish people that demolished the Iron Curtain. But giving credit where credit is due, The Vatican and President Regan did disrupt the tide of communism in Russia and Europe. Sadly, it's growing as socialism in the USA. I wonder what Regan would think of that?

reply to post by Violater1


Interesting. Reluctantly, I feel it necessary to give Reagan credit for the for bringing down the Berlin Wall, "ending" communism and enacting a series of conditions that fostered reform within the former Soviet Union.

I do not believe, entirely, that it was a case of the right ex-actor, in the right place, at the right time ... though that is surely a significant part of it.

I don't believe Reagan nor his advisers sat down and hatched out a plan that would include the events as they happened and would end with the results as they were.

Rather, I believe Reagan's policies and specific pressure greased the tracks for events that were being fomented by pre-exiting conditions and a sense of revolutionary reform that was inciting the citizenry of the Soviet Union. Change there was inevitable. When Reagan and Gorbachev fostered that change, the resulting collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc was a necessary and inevitable result. The former Soviet Union would have morphed into a comparable Russia to the one we know today, regardless of who the American President was. (I say this without contemplating the scenario were a Bush, Jr. to be CIC. Just too worrisome.)

I don't feel bad giving Reagan credit where credit is due. His charismatic performance of sincere firmness, backed by an incomparable military might, along with an intentional and real relationship with Gorbachev were valid accomplishments that played a significant role. The guy was not without redeeming qualities.