Tag Archives: Ronald Reagan

Presidential libraries

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A piece of the Berlin Wall housed at the Reaga...

A piece of the Berlin Wall housed at the Reagan Library (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you enjoy history, I suggest that you visit one or more presidential libraries and take your children. Most or all presidential libraries are divided into two parts, the restricted area of presidential papers and the public area of a museum containing memorabilia. It is the public part that is so fascinating since it includes many of the gifts the president received while in office. I have visited the Truman, Eisenhower and Reagan libraries. From the Truman library, I remember most vividly the sign on his desk, “The buck stops here.” From the Reagan library, my most vivid recollection is the section of the Berlin wall cut to resemble a column, plain on one side and graffiti covered on the other.

I have visited the Reagan library twice since it is near my son’s home. I plan to visit once more since I want to see Reagan’s Air Force One which was installed after my last visit. I also remember standing in front of one of Reagan’s suits inside a glass case and thinking that he was smaller than I thought. I think that he appeared larger on TV because of the force of his personality. Visit a presidential library if you can. It does not matter if you supported that president or not. You will enjoy seeing some of the bits and pieces of history.

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Moment of truth

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Karl Rove Assistant to the President, Deputy C...

Karl Rove Assistant to the President, Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My wife and I both lead busy lives with each of us going in different directions. Each day we try to sit down for a few minutes to talk face to face. We often do that over a backgammon board. We have been playing off and on for most of our 36 years of married life. The game has become so automatic that we both know when the game has reached its moment of truth, a moment late in the game when a single roll of the dice will determine who wins and who loses.

I remember the debate in 1980 when Reagan demolished Carter by asking the simple question, are you better off now than you were in 1976.  A moment of truth. Four years later, he repeated the feat by saying he would not take advantage of Mondale‘s youth and inexperience, a second moment of truth.

I believe that there will be a moment of truth in one of the debates this year between Obama and Romney. There will be no place for Mitt to hide and the 100s of $millions of negative ads from Karl Rove and friends will offer no protection. Mitt might be better advised not to debate at all. He would lose then, but the margin of defeat might very well be less than if he does debate and meets a moment of truth before a vast TV audience.

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Life and American history

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Ronald Reagan wearing cowboy hat at Rancho del...

Ronald Reagan wearing cowboy hat at Rancho del Cielo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have about five years of college credits, but I only have an AA degree. However, I believe that my life experiences and study of American history are the equivalent of at least a master’s degree in both life and American history. I do not consider myself an expert in either subject, just well-educated. Let me recap my story as briefly as I can.

I was born in Oak Park, Illinois, across the street from Chicago. My family was conservative Republican and I was weaned on the world’s greatest newspaper (self-proclaimed), the Chicago Tribune. When I reached adulthood, I added the Wall Street Journal to my daily reading. I believed the editorial pages of both papers were gospel.  Over the years, I began to notice that the editorials never changed even though events did. That discrepancy caused me some unease, but I remained a conservative Republican.

In my late 50s in the late 1990s, I wondered if Ronald Reagan had been a great president. I was not willing to take anyone else’s word, and decided that I would make my own decision. I decided to research the answer by reading a biography of each and every president. I am about two-thirds of the way there, but I have already decided that Reagan was near-great, not great. There is a black hole in American presidential history filled with mostly one term presidents between Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt. The principal exception being Lincoln.

I did not limit myself to the biographies of presidents. I added the US Supreme Court to my reading list and prominent Senators and members of Congress. Over time I feel that I grew to have a more balanced perspective on US history, and my life experiences altered my strictly conservative views.

I have been poor and I have been relatively well-to-do. I have been subject to age discrimination, and I have gone through healthcare insurance hell. I have been in an auto accident where my vehicle was totaled by an uninsured semi driver. In my hospital career, I have dealt with gang members, billionaires, the homeless, people with AIDS and the uninsured. I like to think that I have seen it all, and I try to walk in another’s shoes before I judge them.

I am not always successful in not jumping to conclusions, but I am trying to do better. Rather than talking at each other, I believe that we should be trying to understand each other’s life experiences first. Then we can talk to each other with understanding. My life experiences have made me the person I am with the political views I possess. Someone else with a different life experience, will probably see the world differently. That does not make one of us right and the other person wrong.

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Worst president

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President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush w...

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush welcome President-elect Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama to the White House Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, after the couple's South Portico arrival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In my opinion, that honor belongs to George W. Bush, surpassing the previous holder of that dubious honor, James Buchanan. Hardly a day passes without someone on the web stating that Barack Obama is the worst president ever. Their posts are usually a laundry list of some of the false assertions made against the President. In other words, a pack of lies.

Those false assertions started me thinking about all the ways in which Bush contributed to the present sorry state of the US and the world. Let me count the ways:

  1. The housing bubble and the aftermath could have been decreased in magnitude and the severity of the aftereffects if Bush and Alan Greenspan had taken action sooner or at all. All homeowners or those who want to be are poorer because they did not act.
  2. The Global War on Terror could have ended at Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001 if Bush had pursued bin Laden and al-Qaeda with greater vigor when most of them were surrounded. Instead al-Qaeda still exists, and their existence is used to justify all sorts of intrusions in our daily lives. Such as airport screenings, monitoring of electronic communication in all forms and unjustified wars in Iraq and elsewhere.
  3. The Bush tax cuts were designed to reward the 1% and at the same time make Grover Norquist‘s goal of a small government a reality. Ronald Reagan tried to accomplish this in the 1980s using the Heritage Foundation‘s blueprint, but he failed because he lacked the current GOP’s ruthlessness. Those of us who rely on the government safety net are going to find that it no longer exists.
  4. Bush used a record number of signing statements to enlarge the powers of the presidency at the expense of the other two branches of government. In 1776, we declared our independence of King George 3. In his reign, George W. Bush attempted to reinstate monarchy in the US.

Barack Obama has the unenviable task of fixing what Bush damaged or destroyed. His task reminds me of Sisyphus rolling a rock uphill during the day and watching it roll downhill at night, only to repeat the uphill push the next day. Barack’s task is even more difficult because he has the current GOP on the uphill side pushing against the rock to make the task even harder. Rather than criticizing Barack for his limited success, those of us who support him should be helping him by putting our shoulders to the rock and aiding in the uphill push. We can succeed if we join in his efforts.

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Decision/Indecision 2012

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Herbert Hoover - NARA - 532049

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GOP voters are having a hard time making up their minds this year. Their indecision is reflected in rapidly changing polls and daily, if not hourly, changes in who is considered a leading contender. In the long run, I doubt that it will matter who they choose as their nominee, Barack will be re-elected, see my post Charmed life. Ronald Reagan’s name is mentioned often as a model, but he was too pragmatic for today’s ideologues. The GOP is really seeking someone like Barry Goldwater, but what they will give us is another Herbert Hoover.

What truly worries me is the effort by some in the Neocon branch of the GOP to launch another preemptive war, this time against Iran. In my judgment, they want hostilities with Iran before the election for the sole reason to blame President Obama for the results and advance the chances of their nominee to defeat him. If there is any good coming from the war, they will claim credit and blame Obama for the bad, and bad there will be.

Any hostilities in the Persian Gulf will cause gas prices to spike and likely will cause shortages leading to rationing. This will tip the world’s economies back into recession or worse. Anything to regain power and the White House.

Please see Strait of Hormuz | Strait of Hormuz part 2 | Regime change | Regime change part 2

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