History: Fact or Fiction

Hi Everyone,

The third GOP primary was held yesterday and Newt Gingrich won. The tally now for the 3 primaries is 3 different winners. It looks like it is going to be a crowded field for a while with no clear front runner. As this election season heats up, unfortunately, we are all painfully aware that politicians will say and do whatever they think will help them. To them, the ends justify the means. What I don't get is how seemingly intelligent people can try to rewrite history? To me, trying to rewrite history shows another way of showing a lack of common sense. History is based on facts and not subject to one's wishful thinking about the way they believe it should have been.

What in the world am I talking about? Well this season's GOP presidential candidates have been touting how they are the best representative of what President Reagan stood for. And that is a good thing they say, or is it? Before you believe anything a politician says, fact checking is a good thing and should be verified. So on that note, I did some fact checking on what Ronald Reagan actually did while in office as Governor of California and as President of the United States. If you do not believe me, please check for yourself. Thanks to the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Journal News.

As Governor of California, Reagan signed an abortion bill and wanted and received a $1 billion state tax hike. But as President, he said that he wanted to end abortion but did nothing to try to end it. In 1982, President Reagan agreed to a massive tax hike to avert the worst effects of the supply-side spending he had endorsed when he became President the year before. President Reagan rallied against big government but left our country with a the largest deficit ever of a then staggering hundreds of billions of dollars by the time he left office. He didn't want to gut the federal government but to manage it more effectively. President Reagan did not adhere to the hard-line conservative principles when it came to foreign policy, especially dealing with the Soviet Union. Instead it was his conciliatory side that came to the fore. Even in his evil empire speech, he crossed out some typed text and hand wrote, "This does not mean we should isolate ourselves and refuse to seek an understanding with them. I intend to do everything I can to persuade them of our peaceful intent." In addition, Reagan was president when the early 1980's recession ocurred with unemployment soaring from 6.9% in 4/80 to a historically high of 10.8%. That was and still is the highest unemployment rate in our history since the Great Depression.

On many occasions, Reagan worked with the Democrats to get things done. He was a bi-partisan president. He was close with Tip O'Neil. The fact is that, history may see Reagan as a great president, just not in the way that our present GOP politicians would lead us to believe and consequently diminishes his record. Reagan's greatness was his willingness to abandon his conservative principles when it made sense to do so. The bogus myths about Reagan has become far more precious to today's GOP than his actual record. Despite venerating Reagan, the party has moved to the right of him, suggesting that the federal government should be kneecapped and that a unilaterlist, militaristic foreign policy would fulfill Reagan's legacy. Reagan didn't demonize his enemies, snub allies or try to destroy the federal government. Most likely, Reagan couldn't be counted among current Reaganites.

What I like about Reagan is that he rallied America from despair by appealing to its best and not its worst instincts. What I don't like is how people try to rewrite history to their own benefit. As I have stated many times before, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to your own facts. Again if people, especially politicians had some iota of common sense, they would know better than to try to rewrite history! I can only hope, people will make up their minds based on facts and not based on what is at its best, the stretching of the truth; to the worst, out and out right lies.

Til next week.

Peter