“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
Keep in mind that a Republican said that. Yes, a Republican with a capital R. The party that isn’t known so much for its compassion as much as it is known for its masculine posturing due to its lack of confidence in being well endowed.
Eisenhower was one of our greatest leaders in the history of this country. The man led us to victory in Europe during the Second World War. He got us out of Korea. He built a vast interstate system. He ran a tight ship economy wise: he made sure inflation was low, the federal budget overall was balanced and recessions were mild and brief.
Eisenhower was a good president and a role model for the Republican Party. However, one doesn’t hear about Eisenhower from anyone in the GOP, including the 17 or so presidential candidates that ran for office this past year.
Theodore Roosevelt is another Republican that the party never emulates. Not only was he a trust buster, but he was responsible for brokering peace in the Russo-Japan War. He created the National Parks system, saving millions of square miles from being developed. He created the FDA and other government agencies to regulate and end dangerous practices in the markets.
No one talks about him either.
Instead, the party acts as if Jesus Christ had his second coming, and he came in the form of Ronald Reagan. What’s so great about Reagan?
Ted Cruz once said, “I’ve really had two heroes in my life: my father and Ronald Reagan.”
Donald Trump said, in typical Trumpian fashion, “I think Ronald Reagan was one of the great presidents, period, not just recently. I thought he had the demeanor. I thought he had the bearing. I thought he had the thought process.”
Oliver North of Iran-Contra infamy said, “Nothing is going to change the fact that I believe Ronald Reagan is the greatest president in my lifetime—may well be the greatest president this nation ever had.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, “Without Jimmy Carter, we might not have gotten Ronald Reagan. Without Ronald Reagan, there would probably still be a Soviet Union.”
And nationally syndicated loudmouth Rush Limbaugh simply exclaimed, “Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of the 20th century.”
The man tripled the National Debt, which many of his disciples ignore while they cry foul at President Obama’s deficit spending. Reagan started the trend of taking stealing from the Social Security Fund to make up for deficits. Reagan fired 11,000 Air Traffic Controllers for going on strike. Reagan vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would’ve instituted economic sanctions on South Africa for enforcing Apartheid. Reagan’s administration illegally sold arms to Iran, a country that has been our sworn enemy since 1979, so they could sponsor the Contras, a right-wing terrorist group in Nicaragua.
Reagan was a terrible president. So what gives? What’s with the Reagan worship?
If you asked me a year ago why I think Reagan is so well loved, I would’ve said, “because people are stupid." I think that answer has been very well validated, especially considering the rise of Donald Trump as the party’s nominee in the 2016 Presidential Election. How can such an idiot get so close to the White House, to being leader of the free world and keeper of the nuclear codes? This all started with Reagan.
It’s time to bring back Ike and Teddy.
