he who would not name AIDS
Today is the 100th anniversary of Reagan’s birthday so apparently the Republicans and/or Tea Partiers are cheering in the streets or something.
I spotted this, and it got me thinking: 10 Things Conservatives Don’t Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan
There are many things I hold against the man and his political career, but none so much as his absolute refusal to acknowledge the existence of AIDS for most of his tenure as President. How much sooner research and medication and even possibly a cure might have happened if he had mobilized the nation’s resources against it? Had it been almost anything else, had it affected a different demographic, had it not involved sex and worse yet homosexual sex, the history of AIDS would have been far different. But the man kept silent and thousands and thousands of people died. Men in their 20s and 30s would succumb in a matter of months. It was beyond terrifying.
So, yeah. Reagan did a lot of other things, like raised taxes, fucked up our entire economy and class system with tax cuts (that the raises later couldn’t fix), bloated the size of the government, gave amnesty to illegal immigrants, and sold arms to Iran. He obsessed over space alien attacks, and he finally managed to pull out some theatrical chops in November of 1989.
But none of that is what I remember him for.
I remember him presiding over Death.
Originally published at What's that you said?. You can comment here or there.