Reagan: A Primer

Ronnie lived in a world of make-believe.

He played dress-up every day.

One day, dress-up time came to an end.

But Ronnie did not feel sad.

Instead of playing dress-up, now he told stories.

[Source]

Ronnie liked telling stories.

He traveled to many places, telling stories to anyone who would listen.

Some important people, in important places, heard his stories and liked them.



The important people decided to help Ronnie.

They helped him and helped him, until he became Governor of the State of California.

Now, he could tell stories to everyone in California.

And his friends helped him go to other states, to tell more stories.

Ronnie went many states, and told many stories to many people, until he became President of all the states.

Now he was very happy, because he could tell stories to more people than ever.

Still, there were some things that made Ronnie unhappy.

Something that made him unhappy was called a Labor Union.

And the worst union of all was for people called Air Traffic Controllers.

Ronnie wanted to do something about the Air Traffic Controllers.

So, he took away their jobs — when their jobs were gone, there was no more union!

Ronnie had to fix many things that made him unhappy.

Spending money on some things, like mental hospitals, made him unhappy.

So Ronnie said, "I will take away the money, and then the mental hospitals will have to close!

And so they did.

When the mental hospitals closed, the people who lived in them had to go away.

Now they became Homeless People.

Ronnie was President for eight whole years. He had lots of time to fix many, many things that made him unhappy.

When he stopped being President, new Presidents wanted to fix things, too.

Republican Presidents wanted to fix things.

Democratic Presidents wanted to fix things.

Things called Social Safety Net, and, The American Middle Class.

By the time all the Presidents were through fixing things, even the kind old glassmaker's job had gone far, far away.

Yes, the glassmaker's job went all the way to China.

That Old, Familiar Feeling

This year, I'll be citing Paul Slansky's invaluable guide to eight years of Reagan & Co.: The Clothes Have No Emperor: A Chronicle of the American '80s (1989).

Read almost thirty years later, Slansky's introduction is indeed heavy on the déjà vu.

There's the familiar reaction to White House tenure of someone whose residing there was once unimaginable —

This book is a work of self-defense.

It is the response of one observer who realized that his perception of the truth - an actor is playing the President - was a distinctly unpopular one. An observer who saw his nation's history being fictionalized as it occurred - an actor is playing the President! - while the ratings race turned media "watchdogs" into accomplices, bit players in the hit TV show the Presidency had become. An observer whose very sanity was threatened by the ease with which illusion - an actor is playing the President! - was embraced as reality.

I did not find the President's ignorance charming. I was unwarmed by his genial headwaggling, unreassured by his stern frowns of manly purpose, uncheered by his hearty waves as he strolled to and from his limos and choppers and jets.

His smooth purr did not soothe me. His nostalgic fables about an America that never was did not inspire me. And his canned one-liners, perversely celebrated as "wit" ("If I'd gotten a hand like that in Hollywood, I never would have left") definitely did not amuse me.

... To me, the President was a pitchman who seemed not to exist when the camera light was off, a front man so personally invisible that he'd actually called his autobiography Where's the Rest of Me?, an aging star who'd spent way too much of his time watching his own movies, like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

There's the familiar compulsion to record what's really happening—

Astonished that so few seemed to share my vision, I was compelled to document it. Armed with scissors, file folders, yellow highlight pens and a bank of VCRs, I embarked on an eight-year quest, gathering evidence to prove my case: AN ACTOR IS PLAYING THE PRESIDENT!

I began reading four, then six, then eight papers a day (and five, then 10, then 20 magazines a week), seeking out the absurd and the outrageous, clipping and filing everything that confirmed my sense that standards were falling across the political, social and cultural landscapes. I became a media prospector, mining vast acres of ink in search of the perfect details and telling quotes that held the golden nuggets of truth. I began a video file, recording the evening newscasts - first one network, then two, then three - and dubbing the key soundbites onto meticulously logged master tapes. The events of the decade were like a surreal novel unfolding in the media, and I found myself scrambling to get it all down, compiling a memory for a nation that clearly didn't want one.

Ah yes: it brings me back to 2000, and the eight long years that followed...

But I had the Web for finding information. With so many online sources trying to get out the truth, plus my own compulsive urge to record the history, I printed and accumulated file drawers full of paper.

Then, as blogging came along in the years after 2000, I found more online writers who gave voice to my anger and frustration. The Bush administration launched—if not a thousand blogs—plenty; and plenty of talented writers who felt compelled to track what was happening each day.

Blogs provided even more stuff for me to print and save, what with their astute commentaries and links to even more sources of information.

I still spend far too much time trying to clear my living space of the volume of paper left over from those years. But, I finally put a lot of the 2004-2008 material to use when, just before Obama's inauguration, I started writing about life in an office full of right-wingers during Bush's second term.

Slansky ends his 1989 introduction with a prediction—

Yes, The President Reagan Show is off the air now, but a similar entertainment - Dan Quayle's Playhouse - is waiting in the wings. As we head into the '90s, the powers that be are working overtime - with the complicity, once again, of segments of the media that surely know better - to lull us into thinking that our Vice President is "growing" into his office and will soon be ready for bigger things.

Do not assume that this lightweight can never be elected to the White House. Back in the '60s, we knew the very notion of "President Reagan" was preposterous.

If he was wrong about Quayle in particular, he was of course correct about the general principle at work.

And certainly correct about who could be "electable"; or, eligible for insertion into office—especially with a little nudge from the extra-electoral help always available to Republicans.

2012 looms, and considering the dizzying speed at which the "how low can we go?" standard keeps dropping... The easy marketing target that is a segment of our low voting population... How good the Republicans are at foisting their creations on the country...

Coming Attractions

Another tawdry sort of amusement is on its way, as the teabaggers entering Congress put the true face of the Republican Party on view.

And, non-believing as I am, this year is on the long list of reasons for believing that God does exist—
and is Republican:

February 6, 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. Ronald Reagan.

It will divert attention from the antics of those teabagging heirs to Reaganism; after all, the propaganda machine has been working on this year's rollout for a long, long time.

The show starts today; from the Reagan Foundation/Library—

Make sure to watch this year's 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade, which will include a float honoring the life of and legacy of one of America's heroes, President Ronald Reagan. This is the first ever presidential-themed float to participate in the annual parade. Entered on behalf of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the float theme showcases the official parade theme, "Building Dreams, Friendships and Memories." President Reagan’s life and legacy inspired freedom, and contributed to lasting change across our country and around the world.

With the sleek visuals that will be fed to broadcast media, I'm bracing myself for Morning in America, He Won the Cold War, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

Throughout this year, I plan to revisit as much as I can of the reality of the Reagan years.

In trying to research aspects of that period, I'm finding that it has to be done pretty much the old-fashioned way: by going to books.

If I know of a specific newspaper or magazine piece from the time, I can look for that, but the material is not always available to a general reader (I do have access to Lexis).

Also, there are recent pieces online from expected sources; a search of "Reagan worst president" yields Robert Parry. Parry's piece at least comes up before the inevitable RW link to the glorious Reagan record, versus that of the horrid Dem presidents.

But general surfing for anything critical—or for just about any topic added to Reagan's name—is another story.

The usual result: page after page of book titles in the ever-growing Reagan hagiography; material by Reagan-dedicated foundations; and all manner of propaganda by the wing-nut welfare network. Just as intended: this is what the general public—or someone too young to remember the guy—will most easily find online.

So, there are those musty old books to consult.

A situation which, Clever Sister points out, could change fast.

In libraries all over, Decision Makers are getting rid of print, claiming that "everything is online." This, as CS says, may mean a window of opportunity being quickly lost.

Material online now that's from the pre-Internet '80s is haphazard and often inaccessible to the general public. With the Reagan brand so valuable to the Right, rewriting history online is a well-funded breeze; there are open questions of how well the print record of the time will survive, and if anyone will make an effort to effectively digitize it.

Also from CS, on hearing "February birthday":

"So: they're adding him to Presidents' Day?"

I hadn't even thought of that.

She's right, of course; another sign that God is Republican.

It won't take long, and—need I mention—it will be bipartisan.

And so begins my Year of Ranting Reaganly.

I do expect a lot to be written this year about the real Reagan, as independent journalists and liberal bloggers have an outlet that didn't exist in the '80s.

And there's this from over a year ago; Dr. Krugman should have a very busy year of trying to set the economic record straight.

Was cockroach racing really that big in the '30s? I suspect advertiser exaggeration, in the service of drumming up customers.

We know that by the '80s, Ronald Reagan could be sold to the portion of America that bothers to vote.

And once Reagan was sold, it was clear that anything could be.

Ring In… More Of The Same

Test-marketed over thirty years, and soon to eat up much media space.

On the agenda tonight: popular pricing, to draw a class other than the one Reagan actually served:

New Year's Eve Celebration 2010
8:30 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
$125.00 per person for General Admission (tax and gratuity included; 21 and over only)
$150.00 per person for our VIP Package (tax and gratuity included; 21 and over only)

Please join us to celebrate the arrival of 2011 at our New Year's Eve celebration under the wings of Air Force One! Everyone had a fantastic time last year and this year is going to be bigger and bolder. Ring in the New Year at the Reagan Library, the only place to be this New Year's Eve in Southern California. Enjoy an elaborate night of celebration-extensive hors d'oeuvres, dinner stations, gourmet dessert and chocolate buffets, a champagne toast at midnight and all of the party essentials-hats, horns, streamers and more! Dance to fabulous live music performed by the incredible Pat Longo Orchestra! There will be something for everyone at this grand celebration. Watch the ball drop and more as you welcome in the New Year!

Reservations are required and are limited. Seating will be general seating at tables of 10.

A limited number of VIP Packages are now available! For $150.00 per person you can purchase our special VIP Package for our New Years Eve. This includes preferred seating with a private table especially for your group, as well as a wine for your table!

I'd rather party like it's 1941 or '42—Having fun at roller skating party at Savoy Ballroom.
Chicago, Illinois.
Russell Lee, 1941

Brooklyn, New York.
Red Hook housing development. Jitterbugs at the community center party.
Arthur Rothstein, 1942
Photos: Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Archive

1941-2: people were back at work, advocates for their interests were among those in power, and things were about to change for the better.

Our Depression, Less Than Great

Drought refugee's car on U.S. Highway 99 between
Bakersfield and Famoso, California.
Dorothea Lange, 1939
Library of Congress FSA/OWI Archive
Regarding our government's economic priorities, the routinely brilliant image and text of Driftglass' take on our own Depression—"Napa Valley Grapes of Wrath"—says it all.

With a new year ahead, I plan to start focusing on some more recent history.


In preparation for what's coming up in 2011.

Freeloaders

A little something for under Georgia Christmas trees, 1940—

Cartoon ... Columbus, Georgia newspaper ... December 15, 1940 indicating boomtown and prosperity because of defense construction around Fort Benning.
Photographer: Marion Post Wolcott
Library of Congress FSA/OWI Archive

In the decades since Democrats lost the South, the disproportionate amount of guvmint cash going that way hasn't changed.

And no matter the degree of guvmint hating that's stoked there, it doesn't prevent spectacles like this year's parade of Southern politicians condemning the federal stimulus ... then claiming credit for projects funded in their districts and states.

With the most anti-tax states being tops in federal largesse, a recent Sadly, No thread had Spengler Dampniche proposing a "'get out what you put in'" state-by-state movement"—

The baggers will get behind it because they all think they're giving the most; if a couple of Repukes pick it up, the thing will amplify and wash up to the steps of the capitol. Of course it would never pass... But it might make a lot of coastal folks realize they’re getting screwed by the so-called heartland.

I suggest we call this movement No Free Lunch. Are you with me? Hey, gang! New idear to make all those WELFARE QUEENS in teh blue state urban centars SUFFER FOR BEING LAZY!!!!! NO FREE LUNCH! Your state can't take out more than it puts in!!! I think Idaho would be first in line, or Texas.

After me: a conservative is someone who believes if anybody but himself can win the game, the game is rigged.

More here—

No Free Lunch. I'm telling you. They'll remember it: It started here at Sadly, No. Swept the nation. Alaska, most of the South, the core of the heartland, and some crackpot border states jumped hardest into the fray, demanding those freeloaders like California and New York get back only as much as they put in... only to discover the tit in their state was attached to the cow in another.

Brilliant idea; too bad about how far those ever get.

A very good thing this year: Catherine Russell's revival of a 1938 Andy Razaf/Paul Denniker song, "We the People."

Razaf's lyrics suggest a sensible nation, that's "Got to keep happy, Got to keep snappy... Got to have rhythm and song..."

And—

We don't give a rap about taxation,
Long as legislators give the nation,
Syncopation!

Those were the days...

But some things never change.

They may live in what are called "Red States" now, but they still are hopelessly challenged by spelling and grammar.

Some FSA examples, taken in Georgia, 1936-7.

Arnold Rothstein—

Dorothea Lange—

Santas, For Rich And For Poor

Washington, D.C.
Christmas shopping in Woolworth's five and ten cent store.
John Collier, December 1941.
Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Archive
Naughty or nice?

... Naughty, schmaughty—
for some, it matters not one bit.

Not when bipartisan Santa came early this year, with those gifts of extra special tax rates and no estate tax; delivered to the top tier, which includes plenty of the Not Nice.

So, it comes as no suprise to see Emptywheel report: "Wal-Mart Hikes Toy Prices Just as Congress Gives the Waltons Huge Tax Breaks."

And another big, fat Christmas gift to the corporate masters; the peasants being told they'll receive a net neutrality package.

Thanks to efforts by followers of Republican Jesus, Christmas nearly arrived with nothing for Ground Zero first responders.

Until the last minute, and only after the brilliant shaming by Jon Stewart pushed the story into the media spotlight.

Riveting, too, was the contrast between those sleazy congressional Republicans, and Stewart's guests in a followup segment: some representatives of the first responders—four New York public servants who have made the most incredible sacrifices, and consider it a privilege to have done so.

It was striking because of its rarety, but still impressive to see 8+ minutes of national TV devoted to the stories of some articulate and unbelievably dedicated working people.

The ultimate victory for first responders—albeit with the fund halved, to soothe Republican hurt feelings—followed the thank God Almighty, free at last repeal of DADT, Thom Hartmann said midweek that Reid's threat of extra work days scared a few Republicans into being reasonable. Those two wins, and final ratification of the New Start Treaty sure seem to support that take.

Despite the seasonally inevitable frame of gift-giving—and the Republicans' power to play Scrooge—the DADT and first responder gains are in no way gifts. Not with the first being only one milestone on the road to full civil rights for a segment of the citizenry, and the second only what is owed to people who have sacrificed so much and need care so badly—including many who lost benefits when they became unable to work.

It's years since Woolworth's existed. The overly gifted rich plan to make the remnants of the New Deal disappear, too, and very soon.

Once unthinkable, it's now the direst of threats, what with the consensus of our bipartisan Establishment, the shameful media that serves it, and a broken political system.

After 30 years of bipartisan Reaganism—it could happen all too easily, and in an economic climate that already leaves plenty of people with nothing to fall back on.

Woolworth's is long gone; now there are dollar stores for the lower orders, if they can still afford to shop there.

But the goods at Woolworth's were better quality.

And, for most of the store's history, goods were manufactured by Americans who earned paychecks doing it.