Hamilton forever!
I have a few things to say about the death of Reagan (I must warn you that this is written mostly out of anger at not being able to mail things today...):
First, he was a great actor, thus he was able to "lead" America into believing that he was directly responsible for the fall of Communism. Instead of seeing this as an amazingly good thing, why not have let political nature take its course--Russia would have fallen under its own political weight, and the "land of the free" wouldn't have had to dirty its hands in the destruction of another civiliztion brought about by the pure excesses of Capitalist production.
Second, death squads in El Salvador, support of Saddam Hussein, support of anti-democracy rebels in Nicaragua, Manuel Noriega, etc, etc, etc. One of the foulest foreign policies in recent times (I would put it right up next to Nixon's record in Vietnam, only difference being that fewer Americans died), he is being remembered as some kind of peacemaking genius! I can't fathom this--did I mention the US supported death squads in El Salvador?
Third, What is this I hear about trying to get his face on the ten-dollar bill? I swear to god, if this happens, I will never use a ten again. I will always ask for two fives. At least if your going to get rid of a president on a bill, make it Grant or Jackson: Grant was a shitty president and Jackson was the instigator of one of the largest genocides in American history.
Fourth, no matter how nice a person someone is, that does not excuse their political actions when they lead to death and destruction. When Nixon died, you heard very few purely positive things about him. It was mostly very "objective" or at least factual accounts of his doings. Reagan on the other hand is being personified as some kind of Christ figure who delivered us from evil. So Democrats voted for him, that just attests to the fact that he appeared to be a nice person who wasn't really supporting a proto-facist foreign policy in the name of "freedom."
Maybe I'm being a bit hard on Reagan, but you know what? Someone has to do it! If only recounts of his life would just be honest. That's all I really want: praise him all you like, but a least hint at the fact that he wasn't perfect. From what I understand, he was a pretty good governor, but that's no reason to be closing the post-office. That was just wholly unnecessary.
To close, I'd like to quote alexxandra: "If this post pissed you off, too fucking bad."
First, he was a great actor, thus he was able to "lead" America into believing that he was directly responsible for the fall of Communism. Instead of seeing this as an amazingly good thing, why not have let political nature take its course--Russia would have fallen under its own political weight, and the "land of the free" wouldn't have had to dirty its hands in the destruction of another civiliztion brought about by the pure excesses of Capitalist production.
Second, death squads in El Salvador, support of Saddam Hussein, support of anti-democracy rebels in Nicaragua, Manuel Noriega, etc, etc, etc. One of the foulest foreign policies in recent times (I would put it right up next to Nixon's record in Vietnam, only difference being that fewer Americans died), he is being remembered as some kind of peacemaking genius! I can't fathom this--did I mention the US supported death squads in El Salvador?
Third, What is this I hear about trying to get his face on the ten-dollar bill? I swear to god, if this happens, I will never use a ten again. I will always ask for two fives. At least if your going to get rid of a president on a bill, make it Grant or Jackson: Grant was a shitty president and Jackson was the instigator of one of the largest genocides in American history.
Fourth, no matter how nice a person someone is, that does not excuse their political actions when they lead to death and destruction. When Nixon died, you heard very few purely positive things about him. It was mostly very "objective" or at least factual accounts of his doings. Reagan on the other hand is being personified as some kind of Christ figure who delivered us from evil. So Democrats voted for him, that just attests to the fact that he appeared to be a nice person who wasn't really supporting a proto-facist foreign policy in the name of "freedom."
Maybe I'm being a bit hard on Reagan, but you know what? Someone has to do it! If only recounts of his life would just be honest. That's all I really want: praise him all you like, but a least hint at the fact that he wasn't perfect. From what I understand, he was a pretty good governor, but that's no reason to be closing the post-office. That was just wholly unnecessary.
To close, I'd like to quote alexxandra: "If this post pissed you off, too fucking bad."