Regan-Mania

[Sundance_2]

Apparently they want to put him on the dime, the $10 bill, build a monument for him in Washington, name a couple more buildings after him and put his face in Mount Rushmore.

What do you guys think?

*Edit - Reagan, not Regan.

My Opinion: I really don't care about a monument (given that they'll have to wait 25 years after his death to do it, per law that Reagan signed). I really don't care about the $10 bill either. As for Mount Rushmore, COME ON! Mount Rushmore was intended to be a work of art, not some place that we stick a new president's head every 50+ years. Honestly. Should we modify early American Revolution paintings and stick Ronald Reagan's head in there too?

 

[it290]

Screw that. Reagan was one of the crappiest and most hated presidents in American history. There is no way in hell that he deserves anything like that; he already has that bloody library, that's enough. $10 bill? No f'n way! I guess maybe a monument with an inscription that reads 'not quite as bad as G.W. Bush' would be okay by me, though.

 

[schi0249]

Don't worry, as there is no place to put another face on Mt Rushmore with causing setious instability and possible destorying the whole mountain. When I lived out there a group of geologists studied it. They found the rock to have a low density.

They sure as hell better not take FDR of the dime for Reagan. And they also better not screw with the $10. I am fine with them taking Jackson off of the $20 however.

 

[Dud]

Originally posted by schi0249@Jun 8, 2004 @ 11:36 PM

....They sure as hell better not take FDR of the dime for Regan....

Whoa, FDR is on the dime? But since I don't know what he looked like, I'll take your word for it. Generally anything worth less than 50 cents I just throw at little kids.

 

[it290]

If they take Jackson off the $20, they could at least put JFK or Wilson on there instead.

 

[schi0249]

I do agree that other people are more deserving to be on the $20. JFK deserves more than the $.50 piece. But if they are bumping anyone for Reagan it would have to be Jackson.

 

[antime]

The guy armed Hussein with chemical weapons, helped arm and train the Taleban, not to mention what he did in Latin America. He should be remembered, but for the right things.

 

[Caelestis]

In my humble opinion, the ill-advised choices he made as president in no way depreciate the strength of character he showed. Whether you agree with him or not, he knew what he thought needed to be done, and always did it... It was more about him doing what he believed was right for the country than getting re-elected.

In that, we haven't had a better president in well over a century.

Criticize his policies all you want. You can rest assured I'll do the same when that sack of shit Jimmy Carter (or if I'm really lucky, Bill Clinton) finally croaks. But Reagan deserves some sort of recognition as the model of what a President's ambitions should be about... the country, and not himself.

That being said, even I believe Mt. Rushmore is pushing it too far. Giving him a monument would be within the bounds of good taste, though. The only reason he would end up on the dime instead of the $20 is because of stature. As is well evidenced by this thread alone, nobody takes the time to inspect the face on those little dimes... so nobody really cares too much. But regardless of whether or not Jackson most deserves to be taken off any money, the liberals would shit a brick if everytime they opened up their wallet, they had to see Reagan.

Though I can't help but grin thinking about his face on there...

 

[it290]

'Strength of character' doesn't mean a damn thing for a leader if their policies are totally ass-backwards, as Reagan's were. If you don't think he put his own agenda first, what the hell do you think trickle-down economics was about? It's the same bullshit that Dubya is pulling now. Reagan was a stooge; people may look back at him now and say he was a good President, but that's just because he was the role model for the fucked up neocon ideology that's so predominant in today's politics.

 

[VertigoXX]

There was talk about putting Reagan on Mt. Rushmore back when he first left office. It can't happen, there's no room.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind him on the $20. I may not agree with his politics, but he was a man worthy of the job.

However, before anyone else says JFK needs to be on the $20, what does John F. Kennedy have in common with George W. Bush? They're both presidents who LOST the popular vote but won the electorial vote, putting them into office against the wishes of the majority of the American voters. The ONLY reason people so love JFK today is because he was killed. If he'd lived his term and got voted out of office the following year, he'd be paid about as much mind as Carter. (And before anyone dares call me the R-word, no, I'm not a registered Democrat, the Democratic party has become far too conservative for my liberal blood.)

....................

Sigh... Why is it, in a country that's supossed to be as great as ours is supossed to be, that we can't get anyone on the presidential ballot worthy of the job? Two elections in a row where it isn't a matter of picking the right person, but a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. Four years ago, I honestly believed that GWB was the lesser of two evils. Gore and Leiberman both pushed so much pro-censorship legislation that I believed four years under a Republican puppet would do less damage. But nobody ever expected 9-11, and nobody ever expected that a Republican puppet would be given free reign to basicaly overide the entire Bill of Rights in the name of "domestic security."

All I can hope for now is that some extreme whack job like Howard Stern will throw their name on an independant ticket in 2008, someone who will stand strong for what they believe in, defend our civil liberties to their dying breath, piss off both the Republicans AND the Democrats, force both parties to get their shit together, and be big enough to draw in new voters like Jesse Ventura did to become the governor of Minnesota, voters who wouldn't vote otherwise. That's how you get an independant canidate into office.

....................

/end rant

 

[schi0249]

I am by no means a Reagan fan. But even I will give the man some credit. I did help usher in a new era of US patriotism. And some of what he did was for the country. He was the president of the SAG; yet he busted up the airline wokers strike. And calling "trickle-down economics" ass-backwards isn't right. When the country is in a recession, supply driven economic plans are prefered. They lower prices. And thats all "trickle-down" is; however when you increase spending and cut taxes (like Bush and Reagan) you cause the national deficit to clime even more.

 

[IceDigger]

Reagan was my hero. I hope they do put him on the 10 or 20 but mt rushmore I do think is overkill.

I can't believe you guys are bashing him so much. The guy just died, give him some respect even if you didnt believe in his policies.

 

[mtxblau]

I'm not a fan of Reagan, but I'm with Ice on this one.

And one does have to wonder, that towards the end of his presidential term, why no one saw that the Alzheimer's was already setting in? Numerous aides of his have said that he was having issues, but no one did anything about it. (Well, technically, they did, but I'm not going to get into that).

Keep in mind JFK is already on the 50c piece. And Woodrow Wilson is on the $100,000 bill. I have no idea why Andrew Jackson is on the $20 - it's a joke! He decentralized the bank system and threw the fledgling U.S. economy into a full blown depression. I'd have Reagan on there sooner than Jackson... on another note, I don't understand how Thomas Jefferson got on the $2 bill. You'd think he'd be on a bill with more circulation...

 

[antime]

The only sad thing about Reagan dying now is that it didn't happen 20 years ago.

I wonder if we'll see similar hero-worship in England after Thatcher finally kicks it?

 

[racketboy]

Reagan was the coolest pres in recent history.

But, yeah, I have to say Mt. Rushmore should stay the way it is.

 

[mal]

Originally posted by schi0249@Jun 9, 2004 @ 10:48 PM

I am by no means a Reagan fan. But even I will give the man some credit. I did help usher in a new era of US patriotism.

Yay for patriotism!

 

[it290]

I'm no fan of Carter either, but one of the main reasons Reagan won the election was because of his comments on the Iran hostage situation. I guess that was before we thought letting terrorists influence our elections was such a big deal...

As for Kennedy, he helped avert nuclear disaster and was an important champion of civil rights. He also was instrumental in creating the Peace Corps and NASA's moon missions. It's true that me may be given too much credit for his charisma sometimes, but you can't say he didn't accomplish anything. And the whole 'Kennedy lost the popular vote' thing is pretty debatable. And if you think he's liked only because of his assasination, you can't forget that Reagan's popularity surged after he was shot as well.

That said, I do agree with the sentiment that the Democratic party is too conservative these days, however.

As for the 'trickle-down' tax cuts being merely intended to jolt the economy, why assume that things are always done with such pure and lily-white intentions? I found this article to be a good read:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/budget/stockman.htm

And, speaking of lily-white, here's a lovely quote from Nancy Reagan as well:

"It's wonderful to see all these beautiful white faces...I mean black and white faces."

 

[IceDigger]

Lol, I feel like I'm the only conservative on this board.

 

[Alexvrb]

Originally posted by IceMan2k@Jun 9, 2004 @ 05:12 PM

Lol, I feel like I'm the only conservative on this board.

You're not, but pretty close. Reagan was a great man, he didn't give a damn what the powerful thought of him - he did what he believed was right. I also don't see anyone mentioning the Cold War, and I think only Schi mentioned the economic benefits he brought. Would you rather have had Carter in charge?

 

[Dud]

Originally posted by IceMan2k@Jun 9, 2004 @ 12:12 PM

Lol, I feel like I'm the only conservative on this board.

:lol: Yep, you and Caelestis are the only ones it seems. I tend to be more conservative too, but I stay away from political discussions.