But he was so totally charming with his Grandfather grin and quick wave of the hand--sort of something like out of Hollywood! Too bad it wasn't a movie.

Unfortunately we have a Black president who promotes the very guy who despised us. The first place that Reagan visited after he won the GOP nomination was Philadelphia Mississipi. That is the place where the civil Rights workers Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner had been butually murdered. Reagan stated " I am for states rights" and the Southerners knew what he meant. He then started talking about "CADILLAC DRIVING WELFARE QUEENS" While the rich started getting richer under his and the people who put him in office.
When his tax cuts failed, he started taxing the tips of waitresses and increased the FICA tax. He waged a war on white union members in the form of breaking the air traffic controllers union and despite that many white men still worship him and vote for the GOP as they ship jobs over to china.
Two excellent books on Racist Ronnie are" Tear down that myth " by Will Bunch and "Sleepwalking through History" by Hanyes Johnson. If you think that Reagans was actually able to think, please read the writing of Dr Helen Caldocott where she discusses the time when his daughter arranged for her to speak with Racist Ronnie and he came to the meeting with cue cards that he mixed up during their conversation

Good article Mr. Parry but give us some viable options to fight back, to turn things around. Blue Dog Democrats, Teapublicans, Repugs, even Obama, they all are deadly for working folks in America. One more paragraph, of ideas/ hope/action items, is needed. We know Reagan accelerated the demise of the good life in the U.S. I think we need to start with a Progressive challenger to Obama for the 2012 Dem nomination and enlist Howard Dean to restructure the Democratic Party (elect Progressives in all 50 states; use on-line methods to overcome the advantages of the Oligarchs' money; expand Truthout and RSN to TV/radio, create Progressive newspapers to counter the RWNJ papers, etc.) and if that fails start a new party (Labor Party, Progressive Party, Majority Party) and unite the middle and lower classes to fight the Oligarchs. Do something.

It is hard to tell how much Reagan understood the administrative policies which were enacted in his name. He seemed to like posing in front of the camera, however. Accurate or not, he has become the symbol of the current American oligarchy, and is frequently cast as a benevolent patriotic patriarch loaded with the Christian virtues so beloved of the right-wing. That Obama cites him as hero is quite telling. Those who crafted this image of Reagan may simply want to put a smiling face on their programs which enrich the Few at the cost of the Many. Creating a likable hero demonizes the opposition. But there is nothing moral or happy about policies which promote US imperialism abroad and impoverish our public at home.

Blame the FED for our huge and growing gap in incomes. Every time they 'print' more money it goes to the wealthy, and our elected leaders try to sell this money flooding as helping the economy. How does giving money to the baks help the poor? Even though QE 2 is behind us, the Fed is still buying $30 to $40 billion in Treasury bills per month.

The truest rendering of Ronald Reagan was the Jekyll-Hyde sketch of him on Saturday Night Live. A close friend once spent a day with him on the campaign trail and was amazed. In public, he was caring, friendly, sharing and seemingly warm. Yet as soon as the plane door closed he was vicious, condescending, arrogant and demeaning. Reagan despised the poor, the unfortunate, and those he considered lesser beings. His casting out of the mentally challenged, thus creating the nation's "street people" phenomenon, says it all.

ANd never forget that Bush came outta Tx and was a part of this break down too and now they are presenting Rick Perry, watch out people he too is from TX and has the same values that Bush had...I know that this is off the subject but it just hit me, like man we gotta watch this dude, he could be the end of our country as we know it..
I have heard that he does nothing in the governor's ofc and that his LT. GOv. does all of the work and that he us just for show.....sounds so much like Bush to me.....these repugs scare me to death b/c they just don't care about anything but the rich, but how can then continue to be this rich w/o the american people working too.....we need jobs...I'll keep screaming, we need jobs....

Reagan started MILITARISTIC deficit economy - and supply side - aka trickle down economy.
As many said above - he was actor on the string of neocons.
Now we have "democratic" Reagan - Obama - jumping as neocons direct.
Stock market and capitalism are sinking - computer traders are making fortune - Obama is speaking of better America ... what a bizarre country we are.

Did anyone else ever wonder why no one ever asked about President Reagan, "What did he know, and when did he know it."

i've always felt that "Reagan Democrat" is an oxymoron (empahsis on MORON) ... kinda like "Jews for Jesus" ...

The American public has been falling for celebrity idols ever since mass media made mass glamor possible. Show biz far outweighs statesmanship in politics. Reagan was acting in the role of governor, and then president. It's the big bad wolf finding it easier to eat us alive if we can be kept falling for "poisonality" instead of thinking. It takes a population of well-abetted morons to regard Reagan as greater than Lincoln. Journalism died in the mid-20th century.

All this is too depressingly true. Everyone wonders why-oh-why the Congress won't listen to "the people" about raising revenue. Well, this is the answer. The conservative goal is to "shrink to gov't so it can be flushed down the toilet." That is their ideological mission. I'm sure most Republicans believe they are doing what's right OR they get all their $ from corporate/wealthy donors and they only care about their re-election. Either way, it leads to a feudal system for the rest of us. (to my way of thinking)

Here's a thought that is percolating just below the surface and no one seems willing to say: separation of the U.S. into one or more new nations. Don't laugh. In our time we saw the Soviet Union dissolve. (granted, not because of political differences) But all the rhetoric, the climate of the times, is frighteningly similar to pre-Civil War. Instead of a fight - How about we divide into a Red US and a Blue US? The borders are roughly drawn already. Give a grace period and assistance for those who need to move in order to live under one system or the other. People would later be free to come and go between the nations and emigrate as well - depending on immigration laws, etc. An amicable divorce.

This nation has been at a great ideological divide for its history. Why not entertain this common sense approach and see where it takes us?

Due to length limitations in place for the comments section, this will be the first of two comments I have on the same subject:

The Reagan "phenomenon" would not have been possible without the wholesale cooperation of both the Democrats and the mainstream media. Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers in 1986 in their book "Right Turn" (South End Press) showed through polls that in reality, at similar points in his and their presidencies, Reagan was among the *least* popular presidents of the postwar period, in 1982, for example, beating only Nixon and Truman. His "Teflon presidency" was a product of the media's refusal to criticize most of his policies as they, too, celebrated the return of far right politics to the center stage, documented by Mark Hertsgaard's "On Bended Knee."

What facilitated this approach was the desire of the Democratic congressional establishment to court the Right as a means of recovering the influence they lost with the McGovern reforms of the nomination process, which for the first time took the power of the kingmakers away from them.

Still he only receiver 19% of the vote of those polled. With a new crop of voters every election its easy to understand how people might misinterpert the history of a departed President. In this case the Republicans do everything they can to promote Reagan's as America's hero President. Airports, ships, buildings and yes they want his head carved on Mt.Rushmore. That is why good historians are so needed. The facts will one day treat Reagan as the dangerous idoit he was when it came to promoting sound economic policies and promoting our nation as a nation of strength and compassion for the poor.

To become objective about our lives means to understand that the institutions that govern its experience are critically important. That we are one with the governments (and willing to check their transparency and take decisions that we've abandoned to others), one with the religious activities that mark its pace (and that we are able and willing to check abuse of our emotional innocence and credibility), that the arena’s in which we move our bodies and the laboratories in which we explore our possibilities are ALL part and parcel of our own personal responsibility. That we human beings know ourselves part of each other and are willing and able to act on our behalf for the benefit of each and every individual. That we no longer allow governments, industries, universities or any other institution to run along unchecked by the objective principles of humaneness. That we do not allow gurus to abuse their power or governors to steal the taxes and use them to their personal advantage in detriment of the whole. That we do not allow abuse from anyone anywhere because life is too beautiful to do so and that we are willing to stop the rampant crime with the necessary compassion. That, compassion, for themselves and others, is in fact what characterizes all fascists.

I have always considered Reagan to be the worst President of my lifetime...and I'm 66 years old. I'm from California and I lived through what he did to our state education system and how he drove up property taxes, this resulting in the Prop. 13 campaign. He was ignorant of history but very smart in how to manipulate the media. To call him the Great Communicator is a joke. He couldn't say anything off the cuff, it had to be written for him first by his handlers. We've paid for his poor leadership ever since he took office in 1981 and will probably continue to pay for it for at least another 30 years. God help us all!!!

Old Ronnie didn't even remember his name at his second inauguration.
His favorite saying was as (he grind and shook) his head, There he or they goes again.
The man was a class B if not a C actor and president....he was a GOP puppet.
This country can not stand anymore trickle down economics. Revenues must be raised by "JOBS" Mr. House speaker.