Ronald Reagan: An Embarrassment Of A President

Ronald Reagan was an embarrasment of a president, plain and simple. He had a string of inititatives that showed a lack of compassion fitting of a Hollywood actor.

  He called for a constitutional amendment to allow organized prayer in school. In no way is this even feasible. Whose prayer would be prayed? What about those who have no religion, those who doubt the existence of God, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, Mormons, the various Lutheran denominations, and countless other religious identities that compose America. In conservative areas, nothing would stop schools from expelling students who refuse to participate, and in private schools the practice would be rampant. It seems as though the Republican principle of freedom applies only when it fits their narrative, as this would be a gross violation of the first amendment. I could sit and lunch reading the Bible, and nobody could stop me, but when you make it mandatory that I read said Bible, the story is different.

He consistently worked to oppose rights for the working class. He fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers when they demanded fair pay and benefits, and his assassination attempt in 1981 came after a confrontation with a labor union. He claimed, "Unions need no longer be feared." The only bully in U.S. society is the corporate machine that takes advantage of workers with the backing of wealthy bureaucrats like Reagan.

He actively worked to undermine the rights of people who were different, a bigoted man throughout his life. He refused to respond to the AIDS epidemic, and during his term it spiralled out of control as millions died across the world. He only created Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and extended the Voting Rights Act after plans to do the opposite were advised against, and he vetoed a bill that mandated those who receive government funds not violate civil rights laws. He took a strong stand against an illegal airstrike, but saw no problem with violating civil rights legislation if it meant he got the Christian hate group vote. He saw Medicare and Food Stamps as threats to America's finances, yet saw no problem giving money to churches that don't have to pay taxes.

As mentioned, he saw Medicare as socialism that threatened to give people not born wealthy a chance. He saw Food Stamps as a handout to lazy bums while ignoring the requirements of the program and that single parents with broken lives exist. It seems a concept hard to fathom for the Republicans, who almost never face struggle. His "Reaganomics" program essentially said that poor people would benefit if rich people benefitted, once again undermining the office he was in and flexxing the perplexing Republican principle that big business is more trustworthy than elected public officials.

No president was more a warmonger than Ronald Reagan. His Reagan Doctrine provided overt and covert aid to anti-Communist movements. He provided aid to Al Qaeda, aid that was used to conduct 9/11, a bloody shirt that Republicans hypocritically wave. He conducted raids against Panama, Grenada, Guatemala, and other countries based on information that was shabby at best. These countries remain unstable to this day after the U.S. saw it necessary to depose governments, and yet another Republican bloody shirt was born. This came to bite him in the ass when he illegally used government power against Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra Affair. He seemed willing to be peaceful with his opposition to Apartheid.

He drastically increased Richard Nixon's war on drugs, which led to the militarization of the police, the minority prison crisis, and the impoverishment of entire communities and paved way for a plethora of drugs becoming mainstream.

His presidency accomplished very little in comparison to the permanent harm it did to America's military and economic policy; he left a legacy of pain for minority communities while catering to the rich and abandoning the poor and actively opposing peace.