Published a week after Ronald Reagan's death
How The Media Try To Minimize Reagan's Accomplishments
By Joe Mariani (06/13/04)
The death of former President Ronald Reagan brought out the worst and most vitriolic of his and America's critics, all trying to minimize the positive aspects and results of his eight years in office.
Even CNN and the Associated Press are getting in on the action. When trying to focus public attention on the few negatives of his presidency doesn't serve their purpose, the jackals resort to distorting and even creating the facts.
Even when they speak well of him, they speak only of his winning personality, his inveterate optimism, and his ability to communicate, while ignoring his policies and accomplishments.
Most of us remember President Reagan as the man responsible for revitalizing the American spirit, bringing the economy out of its tailspin, and defeating the Soviet Union--immense and daunting tasks at the time. The completion of any one of them would be cause enough to honor and respect the man; Ronald Reagan accomplished all three and more. The haters, as usual, focus exclusively on the negative, no matter how minor.
Reagan and AIDS
They want to paint a picture of a President who ''ignored'' AIDS, started wars for fun, and just happened to be in the White House when the Soviet Union collapsed of its own accord. It's a false portrait.
The whine that ''President Reagan ignored AIDS'' is simply ridiculous. AIDS was not identified until 1981, and Reagan's government spent $5.7 billion on AIDS research, beginning in 1983. In 1988 - the last year he was in office -- there were only 32,311 cases of AIDS diagnosed in the US, and a drug had already been approved that held the promise of treatment. By way of comparison, there were over 62,000 cases of diabetes diagnosed in the United States that same year, yet no outcry about this was heard from the Left then or now.
It amazes me that Liberals don't try to blame Reagan (or current President Bush, for that matter) for not halting the scourge of diabetes, a disease which has killed more people than AIDS. It's not about lives, of course, but lifestyle. Liberals have been trying to turn AIDS into a ''romantic disease'' (no pun intended, of course), much like consumption (tuberculosis) in the 19th Century. Unfortunately, AIDS is often spread by the deliberate actions of the infected. There's no romanticizing that, and no drug can stop it.
Liberals often excoriate Reagan for his liberation of Grenada and support of Nicaraguan rebels. His opposition to the spread of communism in Central America (as well as the rest of the world) seems to infuriate them. Generally, the people actually liberated from those communist regimes have a very different view of President Reagan. ''Nicaragua is free because of Ronald Reagan,'' said Nicaraguan banker Roberto Arguello. ''He was highly focused on getting rid of the Sandinistas. He made it part of his strategy to get rid of the evil empire that had planted seeds in Nicaragua, Cuba and Grenada. Ronald Reagan is revered by Nicaraguans.''
Reagan warned the nation of the growing Soviet threat in Central America in 1986. ''A few years ago, then-Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko noted that Central America was, quote, 'boiling like a cauldron' and ripe for revolution,'' Reagan said. ''In a Moscow meeting in 1983, Soviet Chief of Staff Marshal Ogarkov declared: 'Over two decades ... there was only Cuba in Latin America. Today there are Nicaragua, Grenada, and a serious battle is going on in El Salvador.' ''
But we don't need their quotes; the American forces who liberated Grenada captured thousands of documents that demonstrated Soviet intent to bring communist revolution home to the Western Hemisphere. It was partly by halting the spread of Russia's influence and power that Reagan was able to defeat them.
While Liberals believed that the United States should be reconciled to the existence of the USSR and the continuation of the failed containment policy known as the Cold War, Ronald Reagan saw a way to bring that government to its knees--now, in our time.
He increased our military budget, forcing the USSR to increase its own military spending to match. In fact, given the 28.3% increase in the Gross Domestic Product during the 1980's, the overall increase in military spending as a percentage of the GDP only increased by .6% during Reagan's term, though it nearly doubled in dollar amount from $158 billion to $304 billion (in 1987 dollars).
To the Soviet economy, however, a drastic increase in spending was unsustainable, and Reagan's proposed anti-ballistic missile defense system (Strategic Defense Initiative) which was a death-blow. The USSR could never hope to match it. The moment that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev insisted that SDI research be stopped at the summit in Reykjavik, and Reagan walked away from the table, the Soviet Union was doomed.
The critics may have a point--if we had just waited another fifty or a hundred years, the Soviet Union may well have suffered an economic collapse. At what cost? During that time billions of people would have lived out their lives in fear and virtual slavery, and no one can tell how many would have died in its death throes. No collapsing government has ever gone quietly onto ''the ash heap of history'' of its own volition.
And Communist Russia needed to be defeated--totalitarian governments which rob their citizens of life, liberty, and the freedom to pursue happiness are the antithesis of what America is all about. We are by nature--or ought to be--opposed to such regimes.
Though there were and still are other oppressive governments in the world, Ronald Reagan defeated the chief of them all, the one that funded and fueled so many others. In a way, his economic and foreign policies were cut from the same conservative cloth. He believed in giving people a chance, not a handout.
America During the Reagan Administration
President Reagan's economic policies stimulated the economy, creating 17 million new jobs. One-fourth of the new jobs were created in 68 consecutive months. Black unemployment was cut in half.
We were given incentives to save our money, to work, and to invest because of Reagan's tax reforms.
The inflation rate decreased to less than 4.4%. Family income rose 12%.
We drew the line in Grenada, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf, and no countries have fallen to communism during the Reagan era.
The U.S. military was refurbished and strengthened.
People from other nations are flocking to America to follow our example. Our principles of civil and economic freedom are now being copied all over the world.
America Just Prior to the Reagan Administration
Seven million Americans were unemployed.
We were told to live on less, to buckle our belts and to prepare for scarcity.
Americans went through two of the worst years of inflation in 60 years.
There was a 13% inflation rate. Family income dropped and we had the highest tax bill in our history.
We were on the verge of a major recession.
With our cold wars during the '70s, we inspired our enemies not to be afraid of us. The Soviets refused to come to the bargaining table. Cultural exchanges between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. came to a halt.
Disarmament was considered a noble goal. We did not know where to draw the line in our negotiations with the Soviets. Three countries fell to communism under the Carter administration: Benin (1977), Nicaragua (1979), and Zimbabwe (1980).
Guns and tanks that did not even work were being sent to battle.
America wore a "kick me" sign on its back. We lost our edge in technology and in global markets due to excessive government regulation, and high taxes which devoured capital.
