I think an important aspect of our political discourse is the deconstruction of the myth of how great Ronald Reagan was as president.
The Republicans (tea baggers included) I have come across or read about almost all place Reagan on such a high pedestal that it truly is alarming to think that most of these folks actually were of voting age when he came to power. Sadly, many Democrats and independents also view Reagan as one of our good presidents.
I believe that we progressives need to dig out the root of this myth and completely tear it up from the ground if we are to win back the minds of independents and moderate Democrats out there.
I am sorry folks but there really is no other way to go but to totally and forcefully demonize the Republican party and their vociferous tea bag wing. To that end I have collected a few internet articles and Youtube videos that can help us on the way.
Let us start with this quote from "How Ronald Reagan and Alan Greenspan Pulled off the Greatest Fraud Ever Perpetrated against the American People"
Essentially, Reagan switched the federal government from what he critically called, a "tax and spend" policy, to a "borrow and spend" policy,...The results were catastrophic. Although it had taken the United States more than 200 years to accumulate the first $1 trillion of national debt, it took only five years under Reagan to add the second one trillion dollars to the debt. By the end of the 12 years of the Reagan-Bush administrations, the national debt had quadrupled to $4 trillion!
Emphasis added. I think that emphasized quote is very telling.
Dave Johnson over at CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE In a series of articles titled Reagan Revolution Home To Roost we find this:
The Reagan Revolution was first and foremost about cutting the taxes paid by the rich and corporations. Now, almost 30 years later, the United States of America is drowning in debt. And that is exactly what they wanted to happen.
In this article How Ronald Reagan destroyed the American Dream written by Pablo Mayhew we have this lovely ditty:
Ronald Reagan was a duplicitous, god-fearing brute who spoke with a forked-tongue and used the rhetoric of apocalyptic imagery to instill a climate of fear and docility in America, while he and his rich henchmen exponentially increased the ranks of the nation’s "working poor."
In this Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever? by Robert Parry we have this lovely assessment.
Granted, the very idea of rating Reagan as one of the worst presidents ever will infuriate his many right-wing acolytes and offend Washington insiders who have made a cottage industry out of buying some protection from Republicans by lauding the 40th President.
But there's a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan's presidency...
Despite the grievous harm that Reagan's presidency inflicted on the American Republic and the American people, it may take many more years before a historian has the guts to put this deformed era into a truthful perspective and rate Reagan where he belongs -- near the bottom of the presidential list.
This list of articles on the web about Ronald Reagan is certainly not exhaustive. There is plenty out there. Please add more in your comments.
Finally we have some Youtube videos:
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Not even Saint Ronnie's own son agreed with him.
Next time you are at a loss for words when a conservative relative or friend sends you an email about how great Reagan was or how we are taxed too much you can direct them to this page or send individual links. Your choice
update
thanks to yesdevkmem for this one
update II
If you have other articles or videos about this please post links in comments so I can embed. thanks all.