h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry if what I'm about to say offends anyone, but these are my views, like 'em or lump 'em.

I'm finding all this praise being heaped upon Ronnie's head now that he's dropped off the twig quite sickening. It's difficult for me to put into words why because I don't have facts and figures to hand - I have to go on what I felt and what I remember from the time he was in office, and a few snippets I've heard since his death was announced on Saturday afternoon.

I don't consider him to have been as great a leader as people are making out. He was divisive, and that makes a bad leader any way you look at it. His idea of trickle-down economics and giving business its head was quite frankly abhorrent. I heard a commentator on NPR describe an incident when he was a kid which left a mark on him for the rest of his life - something about people from the government taking something from his parents or his family. I don't recall the details and it'll be buried away in the middle of the hour-long archived broadcast at npr.org which I don't have the inclination to search through right now.

That led to his mistrust of big government and why he did away with so much of it when he was President - "Government is not the solution to the problem, government *is* the problem". And yet, when does one hear of a politician saying 'When I was kid the banks foreclosed on my parents farm during the dustbowl, so let's curtail their power'? It's ludicrous, right? When does one hear anyone say 'Enron shafted the entire state of California, so let's nationalise all power supply and generation in America because business can't be trusted with anything so important'? Not going to happen.

And saying that he was responsible for the end of the Cold War, or for getting the Berlin Wall ripped up (and I've heard both of those things said) following his "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall" speech (got to give him top marks from grammar though - not ending a sentence with a preposition), is like saying that Dubya's 'War on terrorism' is responsible for Libya coming in from the cold. Both were already under way long before Reagan made his speech or Gaddafi became a friend of the west. Both would have happened regardless of what either President said or did.

Merely the facts that he was a soulmate of Thatcher and Dubya considers him a role model is enough to lose him my respect.

He ran up a massive deficit through tax cuts and spending on defence.

The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Many who were well off found themsleves out of work and completely stuffed.

On his watch we had the Iran-Contra affair, and millions of dollars-worth of weapons poured into Iraq. American troops invaded Grenada, angering Thatcher - the only thing I've ever been in agreement with her about.

People say that upheaval is needed from time to time, and that Thatcher and Reagan dragged both their countries kicking and screaming into modernisation. Try telling that to the people who didn't do so well out of it.

Reagan had some interesting moments, but I do remember being heartily sick when the announcement was made that he'd decided to bomb Libya.

I also remember, with a wry smile, that he got an agreement out of the Soviet Union to 'team up' and fight any extraterrestrial menace.

I think ten years of Alzheimers might have atoned for his political career, and this is what is prompting people to be nice about him now, but there's an interesting situation here.

Firstly, when Reagan and Thatcher left office the Political Satire entertainment field disappeared almost entirely. I miss 'The President's Brain is Missing' on Spitting Image.
Secondly, when you have a politician die, flags all over the world fly at half mast. Yet when a statesman and international figure like...ooo...Peter Ustinov...dies we get nothing. IMHO, Ustinov's contribution to the world was the greater and yet he, like his father before him (the joyfully named Klop Ustinov helped British and Allied Intelligence during WW2) got very little recognition for the things he did.

It seems unfair somehow.

Quite appropriately, former Canadian Brian Mulroney is still sucking up to him. He is pall bearer (honorary, I presume).

Yup, I agree with all the above.

I was particularly angry - and shouted at the radio - when the World at One presenter on Radio 4 on Sunday announced "I'm sure you understand that due to the death of former American President Ronald Reagan, we have to curtail our coverage of the campaigns for the forthcoming European Elections."

WHEN did an elderly ex-President become more important than elections happening in a few days' time??? And an elderly ex-President who had been suffering a terrible illness for a decade to boot. Even Nancy said she was relieved his suffering was over. Hers too. to her.

Anyway, no wonder this country is not voting with its feet and apathy rules, if the BBC has that attitude. Ooh, it really made me so mad

Thank you all for listening to that wee rant. I feel a lot better now.

Fb

I think someone should call the duty officer at BH , or send an angry email to the BBC

Reagan is dead? How could they tell?

But seriously, all this solemnity will fade away after a while, and we'll go back to what passes for normal nowadays.

Ronald Reagan was an actor. For eight years of his life, his specialty was playing the President of the United States. The members of his cabinet were his supporting cast. He wasn't the worst president we ever had. Maybe he wasn't even the dumbest. I had a lot of respect for Nancy Reagan, who managed to talk him out of implementing some of his worst ideas. In the aftermath of John Hinckley's assassination attempt, Nancy kept her cool and helped
prevent panic.

I agree with most of what you say, Gosho, and where I don't agree it's simply because I'm not qualified to hold an opinion (knowing little of American politics and economics, and having been only a young whippersnapper in the eighties).

I think we're seeing a 1066 And All That reaction to Reagan's death: He was a Memorable President and therefore a Good President. You certainly couldn't say that about Ford, Carter or probably Bush Senior. Nixon was, of course, a Bad President. How Dubya will be remembered only time will tell, and Clinton will only be remembered for one thing.

As a wiser person than me has observed, history is merely what we choose to remember. I was thinking earlier about Harold Wilson, a Prime Minister of my childhood of whom I should have a strong memory. What do I remember of this shrewd political manipulator and wheeler dealer of the troubled 1970s? An affable old cove with a strangled northern accent, a cardigan and a pipe permanently clenched between his teeth.
Of course, it wasn't Wilson I recalled. It was Mike Yarwood.

Hmmm I agree Gosho - I also remember it differently.

Reagan did not cause the economic collapse of the "Evil Empire"

"The great communicator" was a misnomer.
He perfected the ability of avoiding communication.
He started a lot of the policies that are going wrong today.

What is all of this stuff about the economy and peace?

He was for star wars, trickle down economics and depriving people of higher education. He was brutal setting up future failures of the healthcare system. He redistributed the wealth and made it harder to undo the damages of generational failures in education ,health and welfare.

He created the drug war at 50 Billion a year. Successfully striping the Nation of the most redeeming social programs(not to mention the war has not been *won*) while he created the neccesity for private (and profitable)prisons business. 50 Billion a year could have done a lot for the economy of those Nations producing drugs in order to survive. Small business ventures and programs to promote long term health and security there and here would have been wiser
The kids in the poorer US schools still need alternatives after school *sigh* there are less dollars (and parents)than ever to make it happen.

He was the most popular President - yet I never met a person who *admitted* to voting for him at the time. I still cannot believe an actor was elected as the US President and have trusted very little about politics since that day.

The two things I give him credit for are his sense of humor and his dedication to his marriage. Nothing about his PoliticsHe was originally nicknamed the Teflon President wasn't he? (before Clinton)

My father signed on to a small start-up company just before Reagan took office. That company badly needed funding from a federal program. When reagan took office, he discontinued that program, expediting the collapse of that company. My father gave up and retired,

There's basically no such thing as a good politician.

As a concept, Reagan was a great idea for President. Take a guy who is used to taking direction, good at reading from prepared scripts, is basically quite good at hitting a mark and looking good for a camera and get him into political office. Let his advisors do most of the thinking and policy making, and use him as a front-man. As Douglas Adams said, the job of the President is not to wield power, it is to distract our attention from the people who really do wield power.

Not that I'm trying to push a conspiracy theory here, you understand.

It's just that, as we have seen with Dubya, when you get someone in front of the cameras who isn't a good public speaker or at home with the media the end result is that your president looks like a moron.
Reagan's biggest impact was that he was at home with all of the cameras, possibly the first president that was, and this is why people have such a clear memory of him.

You see the same thing happening with Ah-nold. The guy's manipulation of the media is masterful. Heck, he even uses Jay Leno to showcase ideas. That's very clever - more people watch Leno than watch the news and it's a nationally syndicated show. Smart, Arnie. Very smart.

I remember watching Charles Wheeler commenting about the aftermath of the bombing of Libya. Before the bombing took place, Reagan wasn't very well acquainted with the issues. He didn't read the newspapers, for instance. So the White House staff had to make a special television program explaing those issues to him. RR responded to the TV. He didn't respond to the printed word because he didn't read. Frightening, eh?

I'm not much for conspiracy theories either - leatsways, not grand, global scale conspiracies anyway, but I think you've hit the nail on the head G. The President may think he's in power, and the populace certainly think he is, but I honestly believe that's not the case. Less so in the case of the British PM, but I think it's generally believed that the real power in British government lies in the Sir Humpheys of the Civil Service. The President/PM comes up with ideas, or a direction he wants government policy to go in, and if those policies/direction are in line with what the real powerholders want, so much the easier.

But of course I have nothing to back this up with and it's purely my opinion

By the way, how many more ing times are we going have to see a tearful Nancy watching the damn coffin being moved or standing on a pedastal Whatever I may feel about Ronnie and his policies, I can still appreciate the personal side of this - Nancy loved him and now she's a widow - I feel sad for her on that level. But this is getting too damn mawkish.

"He didn't read the newspapers, for instance."
Dubya has proudly made the same boast.

"You know, this is a perfect storm of a mess in Iraq because we have a president who proudly says he doesn't read the paper, never traveled oversees, never really cared to learn about overseas, and never served oversees, so he doesn't understand what it's like overseas. And that's why he has this two-dimensional view of what goes on over there. He gets frustrated with us because we don't understand -- Saddam Hussein, 9/11, they hate us for our freedom. What don't you marshmallow-heads get about that? That's his whole world view. John Kerry has been to war. He's like a guy who's a vegetarian now because he's been to the slaughterhouse. I think he would have kept us out of war."
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0406/02/lkl.00.html

You know, I don't usually like Bill Maher. However, He is right on the money about politics. Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, and Al Franken should get together to do a serious appraisal of the political situation, and have Michael Moore film it.

Look, I heard Michael Moore speak at the A.L.A. conference, and I loved him, but I don't think he should be filming this particular project.

Also, I think it's been established that it was Nancy Reagan who shaped her husband's political philosophy. It was also Nancy who talked him out of doing some things that would have been pretty bad. It's not nancy's fault that the TV cameras have to zero in on her so much--sure, she was an actress earlier in her life, but at this stage she is surely not trying to get publicity.

Laura Bush is also a very smart woman, but she grasps how futile it would be to try to influence her husband's politics.

Something odd I noticed today is that there are still newspapers - they must be weekly, I guess, coming out with headlines saying 'Reagan Dead at 93'.

It's like Reagan has died at 93 every day this week. I'm starting to wonder whether he's doing matinees.

Something else has been nagging at me too and I've finally pinned down what it is - it's the media. I can think of several good reasons why Dubya doesn't read:

1) He can't.
2) He's bombarded by left wing bias in all areas of the media daily and it drives him nuts. (Not a good thing)
3) All of the above.

You'd think that Reagan, who was a former Democrat himself, might have felt the same way. I haven't been in the USA long enough to notice, but is the media usually in opposition to the President or are they generally pretty liberal anyway?

As usual, the media are salivating and flocking like vultures around the corpse of President #40 because weeping widows sell newspapers and draw ratings. Next week, when Dubya says something dumb, they will flock to mock him because ragging on the President is fun. They will studiously ignore the assinine comments of Kerry because the media appear to be a variant of the schoolyard bully.

If you're not cool, look out!

People are already talking about putting his likeness on either the $20 or $10 bill

Come on. If anyone's going to replace one of the dead Presidents it has to be FDR

Agreed.

Mystifying, isn't it?

It'll be very interesting to see how things go when Thatcher pops her clogs. Of course, there's no likelhood of her boat race getting on any currency

I can heartily recommend a song called 'The Day that Thatcher Dies' by a band called Hefner - on said day, I will be playing it long and loud. I will also be getting out anything we have that resembles bunting and trying to start a street party.