Turnstile

by: Nathan Carlile

This is in response to the heart-wrenching plea Feb. 12 "Reagan unappreciated by Americans today," calling for Americans to unite in praise of the past president, Ronald Reagan. In light of his 90th birthday I do feel that it is necessary to discuss his political record and the effect his presidency had on our country, but I would like to offer a liberal response to the conservative dribble.

During his term Reagan's high public approval rating often gave the impression that the nation's problems were vanishing before an onslaught of new pride and optimism. You highlighted the fact that "all but one of his budgets were lower than the money SPENT by a then-democratic-controlled congress." Simply put this means that funds were taken away from public programs such as education, health care, social security the environment and endowments for science and the arts, only to see the defense budget raise to a level where the Pentagon spent more than $30 billion an hour. Reagan explained cutting social programs with the quip that after 20 years of a war on poverty, poverty had won.

The fact is that the national debt tripled during Reagan's eight years in office and not once did he offer to Congress a balanced budget. You mention that inflation declined, and this is true, but real wages, that is wages adjusted for inflation, actually declined on average during the 1980s. As for the nation's elite, the top one percent wealthiest Americans doubled their share of the national income. Simply put, the rich got richer, the poor got poorer.

I can not for the life of me determine why so many in this country are in a rush to immortalize a man only 12 years removed from office. What great social cause did Reagan champion; what passion did he instill? Why don't we take a step back and wait for history to judge this man? If you are in a rush to praise a past president why not concentrate on Lyndon Johnson, who pushed through Congress the Civil Rights Act, or Harry Truman, whose Marshall Plan was truly responsible for the defeat of communism?

For democrats Ronald Reagan is a symbol of all that is wrong with our society. The mention of national pride that he instilled in our country is a farce, and the combination of conservative ideals and political apathy that now define our country are a direct effect. If "pride in America returned" as the writer stated, then why is voter turnout at a historical low?

I believe that Reagan ignited a de-evolution in American politics. If we can settle for a man who believed that "ketchup is a vegetable" then suddenly our current president almost appears intelligent.

Bobby Kennedy once told students at Berkeley, "You can use your enormous privilege and opportunity to seek purely private pleasure and gain. But history will judge you, and, as the years pass, you will ultimately judge yourself, on the extent to which you have used your gifts to lighten and enrich the lives of your fellow man."

I can only finish by saying that the growth that proliferated under Reagan has polluted our water, poisoned our air and devalued the political passions that once defined our country. Government has foundered as new agencies have grown, splitting tasks and energies among dozens of distant and unconnected bureaus. Individuals have lost touch with the institutions of society, even with one another and thus have become more and more both perpetrators and victims of coldness, cruelty and violence. That, I believe, is President Reagan's legacy.

Send comments to Carlile at landon_donovan@yahoo.com.