Now, on Reagan.
There are, for sure lots of types of intelligence. "Multiple intelligences" is a educational theory. Basquiat couldn't string two coherent sentences together most of the time, but he was a brilliant artist, for example. To the extent that Reagan was intelligent, many of us are. He possessed what I'd admirable traits. He could laugh at himself. He could make little jokes. He could remember a little fact about someone or be a good host. He had a knack for turning a phrase or bringing levity to a tense moment.
I don't know that I'd classify any of those traits as the mark of great intelligence. Especially during his presidency, when, due to a combination of factors (senility, venal advisors, the fact that Russia was going into the shirtter for a decade, and lied about it) when Reagan had less than his intellectual A game.
But if we assume his intelligence, we cannot simultaneously absolve him of the stoo-pen-dous errors his administration made on a variety of fronts, but most notably in foreign affairs, where America's involvement in a series of ridiculous proxy wars (Iraq/Iran, Angola, Central America, Afghanistan, Labanon) created a full Pandora's Box of problems 20 years later that we still haven't rid ourselves of.
The militarized escalation of a drug war that led to out-of-control budget problems in prison overcrowding and on police forces, where pensions/pay ballooned thanks to GOP fear-mongering? That's on Reagan, who complicated this matter with said proxy wars, fueled on the "revolutionary" side by drug dealing.
The death of the Fairness Doctrine and the relaxing of FCC ownership rules that's not only killed local radio but guaranteed that you'll hear almost nothing but right-wing talkers on AM stations until, I don't know, the sun burns up the Earth? That's on Reagan.
The idea that every poor person should own a home via low-cost, adjustable mortgages, a scam that blew up in our faces in 2008? That's on Jack Kemp. And Reagan.
A needless Arms Race that left Russia bankrupt and willing to settle whole warehouses of weapons to third-world dictators and terrorists? That's, in part, on Reagan, who agreed that a Star Wars approach to the Cold War was necessary so America didn't "fall behind" the Communists. The USSR was in the financial tank by 1980, as it turns out, and we had decent access to that reality, arguably choosing to ignore it to line the pockets of defense contractors.
We can go on here. The point is: If Reagan wasn't a patsy for his advisors, if he wasn't the actor they put onstage while they tweaked the nation in ways that played right into the hands of the powerful and greedy, then Reagan played an active, knowing role in that. When he said he couldn't recall things, he actually could and just wasn't telling the truth. When he hosted what amounted to an Angolan war criminal in the White House, championing his fight against Communism, he apparently knew that the guy was a sociopath. If that's what we're claming, fine.
But I don't honestly think that. There was a lot Reagan simply didn't know and wasn't intellectually curious to find out. He wasn't street smart at all, in fact; Nancy knew half of his team was a bunch of jackals. The ideological inmates were running the asylum there for 6 of the 8 years. They ran it for about five under W before, at long last, he woke up a little bit near the end, too late though it might have been.
There are, for sure lots of types of intelligence. "Multiple intelligences" is a educational theory. Basquiat couldn't string two coherent sentences together most of the time, but he was a brilliant artist, for example. To the extent that Reagan was intelligent, many of us are. He possessed what I'd admirable traits. He could laugh at himself. He could make little jokes. He could remember a little fact about someone or be a good host. He had a knack for turning a phrase or bringing levity to a tense moment.
I don't know that I'd classify any of those traits as the mark of great intelligence. Especially during his presidency, when, due to a combination of factors (senility, venal advisors, the fact that Russia was going into the shirtter for a decade, and lied about it) when Reagan had less than his intellectual A game.
But if we assume his intelligence, we cannot simultaneously absolve him of the stoo-pen-dous errors his administration made on a variety of fronts, but most notably in foreign affairs, where America's involvement in a series of ridiculous proxy wars (Iraq/Iran, Angola, Central America, Afghanistan, Labanon) created a full Pandora's Box of problems 20 years later that we still haven't rid ourselves of.
The militarized escalation of a drug war that led to out-of-control budget problems in prison overcrowding and on police forces, where pensions/pay ballooned thanks to GOP fear-mongering? That's on Reagan, who complicated this matter with said proxy wars, fueled on the "revolutionary" side by drug dealing.
The death of the Fairness Doctrine and the relaxing of FCC ownership rules that's not only killed local radio but guaranteed that you'll hear almost nothing but right-wing talkers on AM stations until, I don't know, the sun burns up the Earth? That's on Reagan.
The idea that every poor person should own a home via low-cost, adjustable mortgages, a scam that blew up in our faces in 2008? That's on Jack Kemp. And Reagan.
A needless Arms Race that left Russia bankrupt and willing to settle whole warehouses of weapons to third-world dictators and terrorists? That's, in part, on Reagan, who agreed that a Star Wars approach to the Cold War was necessary so America didn't "fall behind" the Communists. The USSR was in the financial tank by 1980, as it turns out, and we had decent access to that reality, arguably choosing to ignore it to line the pockets of defense contractors.
We can go on here. The point is: If Reagan wasn't a patsy for his advisors, if he wasn't the actor they put onstage while they tweaked the nation in ways that played right into the hands of the powerful and greedy, then Reagan played an active, knowing role in that. When he said he couldn't recall things, he actually could and just wasn't telling the truth. When he hosted what amounted to an Angolan war criminal in the White House, championing his fight against Communism, he apparently knew that the guy was a sociopath. If that's what we're claming, fine.
But I don't honestly think that. There was a lot Reagan simply didn't know and wasn't intellectually curious to find out. He wasn't street smart at all, in fact; Nancy knew half of his team was a bunch of jackals. The ideological inmates were running the asylum there for 6 of the 8 years. They ran it for about five under W before, at long last, he woke up a little bit near the end, too late though it might have been.
