The Great Prevaricator
The reaction from those of us who came of age during the Reagan presidency -- and found it inexplicably horrific
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=17068
Excuse me while I barf.
I'm in no mood to join the joyful eulogies upon the passing of Ronald Reagan -- remembrances that prove, once again, the staggering size of our country's memory hole.

It's not just that George W. Bush would have been impossible without Reagan. The presidency of Ronald Reagan himself was so bad, on so many levels, that as young adults a sizeable number of us could only sputter in impotent rage, a rage summed up nicely by the Crucif***s song "Hinckley Had A Vision." It simply made no sense that an entire country could be run by sinister thugs, all because its spokesperson was a washed up actor with the professional training to deliver the most ridiculous, venal lies with a calming, "Great Communicator" demeanor.

We've also forgotten the corruption -- not just the constitution-shredding outrage of Iran-Contra, but an administration that set a modern record for the number of indicted officials.

And excuse me, but Ronald Reagan did not end communism. Hundreds of thousands of courageous people, in Moscow and Gdansk and Prague and across the communist bloc, deserve the credit for risking their lives to bring down tyrannical governments, often with nothing more than the willingness to sacrifice their own bodies.