Brother Ronnie, Can You Spare A Dime?
by Frank Pitz
The services are over, Ronald Wilson Reagan is solidly entombed but the right wing is firmly swinging the cudgel of canonization for Hollywood 's favorite B-actor. The litany of revisionist praise is enough to turn one into a diabetic, and the accolades for this cold war Hollywood snitch appear to be never ending. The rush to memorialize Reagan by affixing his name and image to just about every edifice in the United States is sickening, there is talk of placing his image on the ten-dollar bill or even replacing FDR on the U.S. dime with Reagan's likeness. Reagan was one of the worst presidents in this nation's history, fact. The Iran Contra mess should have brought about his impeachment, but a complacent media softened the entire affair.
Reagan killed tens of thousands of innocents in El Salvador , Nicaragua , Guatemala , and Honduras while funding and training brutal death squads. Saint Ronnie, the liberator unilaterally invaded that nest of communism Grenada . Reagan was one of the most racist presidents of modern times as evidenced by his anecdotal stories (and code words) about "welfare queens in Cadillac's," as well as his unequivocal support of the apartheid regime of South Africa .
Reagan battered women's rights by appointing Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. He also packed the lower court benches with anti-choice ideologues. Reagan fired some 13,000 air traffic controllers and declared open season on trade unionists. Reagan was responsible for the largest deficits in history, which took twelve years to
overcome - unfortunately G. W. Bush, son of Reagan has brought these deficits back with a vengeance.
The "Stars Wars" missile defense boondoggle was Reagan's. The assault on the environment began under his watch, does the name James Watt ring a bell? Can you recall that trees caused pollution? How about ketchup is a vegetable?
But Regan's biggest crime was his total ignoring of the AIDS epidemic. Read Randy Shilt's: "And the Band Played On". Reagan lay down with those two bastions of compassionate humanity Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson in labeling AIDS God's "divine revenge on homosexuals." When he finally spoke out on the epidemic in October of 1987 there were 59,572 AIDS cases in the United States , with 27,909 men and women dead of the disease.
This is the man the right wing wants to idealize, this is the man that George W. Bush does idealize. This man should never replace FDR on the United States dime; this man should never replace Alexander Hamilton on the ten-dollar bill. If Ronald W. Reagan supporters want to place his graven image on any United States currency perhaps it would be more appropriate if put on the $10,000 bill, after all he did more to help the rich in this country than he did the poor.
As for Reagan replacing FDR on the U.S. dime, that would be a complete travesty. Perhaps those who want Reagan's image on the dime are just being facetious and want to remind the poor just who they have to thank for that dime in their pocket, perhaps they could even somehow include the lyrics to that old depression era song by Bing Crosby:
"They used to tell me I was building a dream. And so I followed the mob, when there was earth to plow or guns to bear I was always there right on the job. They used to tell me I was building a dream with peace and glory ahead. Why should I be standing in line just waiting for bread? Once I built a railroad I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad now it's done, Brother can you spare a dime?"
Ronald W. Reagan began the assault on the poor that is being continued today by George W. Bush. Reagan and his crooked minions opened the doors of the United States treasury to the corporate whores of America . Mr. Bush is continuing that rape with a vengeance, and with a compliant media will persevere. The lionization of Reagan the Hollywood B-actor by the revisionist press, and the downplaying of Bush's crimes against humanity go hand-in-glove with the agenda of the right-wing towards the complete corporate make-over/take-over of the United States . Spare me your misplaced accolades for the crook Ronald Reagan. I recall when he was Governor of California a reporter asked his feelings about the food being distributed to the poor in the Bay area due to demands of the SLA who had recently kidnapped Patty Hearst. (One of the demands made by the SLA was that the Hearst Corporation distribute free food to the poor) Governor Reagan answered that reporter thusly: "There is nothing wrong with those people that a good case of botulism wouldn't cure." This is the man the right wing wishes to elevate to sainthood.
Reagan is dead, I shed no tears for him. The victims and survivors of his domestic and international "death squads" shed no tears for him. People of color shed no tears for him. Reagan is dead and I choke on the panoply that has been presented recently which seeks to elevate him to iconography.
Peace
Frank Pitz
