My thoughts on Reagan
Taken from the Introduction to my copy of "Speaker for the Dead":
"I thought that a more appropriate funeral would be to say, honestly, what that person was and what that person did. But to me, 'honesty' doesn't simply mean saying all the unpleasant things instead of saying only the nice ones. It doesn't even consist of averaging them out. No, to understand wh a person really was, what his or her life really meant, the speaker for the dead would have to explain their self-story - what they meant to do, what they actually did, what they regretted, what they rejoiced in. That's the story that we never know, the story that we never can know - and yet, at the time of death, it's the only story worth telling."
I realize that people want to think of Reagan as one of the greatest presidents of all time. Personally, I hold him in the "pretty darn good" level, below Lincoln and Washington, but above the "good" presidents, like Truman and Ford. He had quite a few good things to his name, like speeding up the destruction of the Soviet Union, which was dying anyway thanks to their own economic system. Essentially, Communism is the main reason why Communism died in Russia, Reagan just took advantage of the USSR's economic flaws.
However, he did ignore AIDS, there were a few scandals to his name, and so on.
So it troubles me when people keep saying that he was the greatest president of the modern era. It bothers me more when I see that GW Bush is one of many republicans giving a eulogy, while no Democrats were invited. And I think that his speech at the funeral will be something akin to these remarks.
And it just seems wrong for someone to ignore all the fault a person had, to give him more credit than he is actually due.
Reagan was a man. Yes, he was a pretty darn good president, an excellent actor (which tends to go hand in hand with being a politician), and for the most part a good person. But he was still a man. He still made mistakes. To ignore those mistakes is to ignore who the man really was.
I hope someone besides us left-wing nuts realize this...
"I thought that a more appropriate funeral would be to say, honestly, what that person was and what that person did. But to me, 'honesty' doesn't simply mean saying all the unpleasant things instead of saying only the nice ones. It doesn't even consist of averaging them out. No, to understand wh a person really was, what his or her life really meant, the speaker for the dead would have to explain their self-story - what they meant to do, what they actually did, what they regretted, what they rejoiced in. That's the story that we never know, the story that we never can know - and yet, at the time of death, it's the only story worth telling."
I realize that people want to think of Reagan as one of the greatest presidents of all time. Personally, I hold him in the "pretty darn good" level, below Lincoln and Washington, but above the "good" presidents, like Truman and Ford. He had quite a few good things to his name, like speeding up the destruction of the Soviet Union, which was dying anyway thanks to their own economic system. Essentially, Communism is the main reason why Communism died in Russia, Reagan just took advantage of the USSR's economic flaws.
However, he did ignore AIDS, there were a few scandals to his name, and so on.
So it troubles me when people keep saying that he was the greatest president of the modern era. It bothers me more when I see that GW Bush is one of many republicans giving a eulogy, while no Democrats were invited. And I think that his speech at the funeral will be something akin to these remarks.
And it just seems wrong for someone to ignore all the fault a person had, to give him more credit than he is actually due.
Reagan was a man. Yes, he was a pretty darn good president, an excellent actor (which tends to go hand in hand with being a politician), and for the most part a good person. But he was still a man. He still made mistakes. To ignore those mistakes is to ignore who the man really was.
I hope someone besides us left-wing nuts realize this...
posted by Wraithy at 6/09/2004 11:16:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home