More Reagan stuff...

I find it grimly ironic that the Federal Government, that troublesome leviathan Ronald Reagan so despised, will grind to halt in his memory come Friday.
In life, Reagan might've found this funny or appalling...frankly who knows?
Like most Presidents Saint Ron found the government bureaucracy a fine instrument when it came to implementing his most cherished fantasies irregardless of his "small gummint" rhetoric.
No doubt the air traffic controllers will still be on the job when his coffin is finally lowered into the earth.
You can bet on that.

The whole thing is once again exposing our feelings and actions about Reagan militant conservatism and the long off election of 1980.
I was shocked to read on Dan Kennedy's blog that he voted for John Anderson that year after being "disgusted" with Jimmy Carter.
It's the Sunday June sixth post.
Well that is kind of interesting...especially when you consider that these days Dan Kennedy is fairly critical of Ralph Nader's spoiler candidacy.
Ah but it's been twenty four long years since 1980 and I'm sure young Dan thought that a "real liberal" would sweep the nation come 1984.
This is a cherished fallacy of liberals and progressives that conservatism "will make things so bad" that the nation will flock to our standard in due course.
This naively overlooks the sheer power of conservative individualism to use a position of political power to promise something for everyone-regardless of what problems face us as a polity.
Which is one of the secrets of their staying power or so I think.

Otherwise I suspect one of the unintended consequences of Reagan's death might be the resurrection of Jimmy Carter.
These days the Georgia democrat is in internal exile trapped in part by a nasty Simpson's-style caricature of his hapless ineffectuality.
Well....that may be so, but Herbert Hoover's virtues didn't quite come into focus until after his conqueror FDR died and perhaps the same good grace will descend upon Carter.