Shortly after "Ronnie" died, I came across an essay called "How Ronald Reagan changed my life." The piece was an obituary of sorts and it was penned by a fellow named Greg Butterfield. During a time in which America's ruling elite and the big media were engrossed in an frenzied rush to beatify the fallen "Gipper", Greg had the guts to paint an honest picture of the man behind the legend. And it wasn't so much of a "warts and all" picture as it was simply all warts. So when I read Nancy's statement about the "Real Ronnie," Greg's essay was the first thing that came to mind. Yes, Nancy, I do agree with you. People should know the "real Ronnie." And with that in mind, here's an excerpt from Greg Butterfield's 2004 essay, "How Ronald Reagan changed my life."
The truth about Reagan and his legacy must be told.
Ronald Reagan was a scab. His political career began when, as a leader of the Screen Actors Guild in Hollywood, he ratted on fellow union members and others before the McCarthyite House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Ronald Reagan was a racist. As governor of California in the 1960s and 1970s, he joined the FBI in waging war against the rebelling African American community and those heroic advocates of Black liberation, the Black Panther Party. He was responsible for the deaths of many young Black freedom fighters. Only a worldwide movement saved his personal nemesis, Angela Davis, from unjust imprisonment. In the 1980s, his administration was responsible for CIA-sponsored drug running in Black communities to fund the contra war against Nicaragua.
Ronald Reagan hated the poor. He knew that capitalism creates armies of poor and unemployed workers, and that they constitute the greatest threat to the profit system. Over decades, first as governor of California and then as president for eight years, he missed no opportunity to wage war on the poor—their image in society as well as their material well-being. He was a prime mover in the post-civil-rights-era rollback of public perceptions of the poor as less than human. He was an early champion of the "Cadillac welfare mother" myth, and continued to use it throughout his career. Reagan blazed the trail for none other than Democratic President Bill Clinton, who smashed the federal welfare system in 1996.
Ronald Reagan also hated gays, lesbians, bi and trans people—and he promoted a vicious homophobia to characterize AIDS as a "gay disease" and stigmatize people with AIDS, a disproportionate number of them people of color. Reagan blocked funding for AIDS education, prevention, treatment or care, here and in other countries. The AIDS crisis exploded during the Reagan presidency. He let it. The president now being lauded as a swell fellow, a kind, good-hearted, decent guy you just couldn't help but love, was in fact a callous killer. He is directly responsible for the HIV/AIDS deaths of tens of thousands of people then—and millions around the world since.
Ronald Reagan was a union buster. He broke the PATCO air controllers' strike in 1981. This act, at the beginning of a reactionary period in world history, dealt a body blow to the labor movement from which it is still struggling to recover. Workers in the United States pay the price every single day when they face off with the boss on the job, when they collect their paychecks, when they are told they must pay for their health benefits or lose them.
Ronald Reagan was a warmonger. The idea of people being free of U.S. imperialist domination was anathema to him, especially if they were people of color. His war crimes—from the funding, arming and training of some of the very forces today called "terrorists" to wage war on the pro-socialist revolutionary government of Afghanistan, to the invasion of tiny Grenada—are too many to list. But mention should be made of the death squads his regime promoted in El Salvador, and the reactionary contra army and invasion threats that undermined the Nicaraguan Revolution.
Ronald Reagan was a bitter enemy of all poor and working people. What is it that the media and political establishment are celebrating as Reagan's "legacy"?
It is his role in helping to destroy the Soviet Union, the great achievement of the workers' and peasants' revolution of 1917, and setting back the world movement for socialism. The unrelenting nuclear arms buildup and aggressive threats that were the hallmark of his presidency laid the groundwork for the USSR's demise.
The USSR's existence for over 70 years had the effect of challenging imperialist aggression in many areas of the world. The existence of a major alternative economic and political system helped countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to achieve a measure of independence from the former colonial powers. In the Western imperialist countries, it helped the labor and civil-rights movements win and hold onto hard-fought gains, because workers knew there was another system that guaranteed jobs, food, housing and health care for all people.
There are many other crimes that bear Reagan's stamp: the continuing rollback of women's right to choose, the war on immigrants, the speech at a Bitburg, Germany, cemetery honoring Nazi SS troops, and so many more.
The history of the last decade-plus is Reagan's real legacy: more war, more occupations, a return to openly colonialist methods and ideology, more racism, more vicious attacks on women and the lesbian/gay/bi/trans communities, fewer rights and falling living standards for workers, more people hungry and homeless with no safety net.
Ronald Reagan was a scab. His political career began when, as a leader of the Screen Actors Guild in Hollywood, he ratted on fellow union members and others before the McCarthyite House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Ronald Reagan was a racist. As governor of California in the 1960s and 1970s, he joined the FBI in waging war against the rebelling African American community and those heroic advocates of Black liberation, the Black Panther Party. He was responsible for the deaths of many young Black freedom fighters. Only a worldwide movement saved his personal nemesis, Angela Davis, from unjust imprisonment. In the 1980s, his administration was responsible for CIA-sponsored drug running in Black communities to fund the contra war against Nicaragua.
Ronald Reagan hated the poor. He knew that capitalism creates armies of poor and unemployed workers, and that they constitute the greatest threat to the profit system. Over decades, first as governor of California and then as president for eight years, he missed no opportunity to wage war on the poor—their image in society as well as their material well-being. He was a prime mover in the post-civil-rights-era rollback of public perceptions of the poor as less than human. He was an early champion of the "Cadillac welfare mother" myth, and continued to use it throughout his career. Reagan blazed the trail for none other than Democratic President Bill Clinton, who smashed the federal welfare system in 1996.
Ronald Reagan also hated gays, lesbians, bi and trans people—and he promoted a vicious homophobia to characterize AIDS as a "gay disease" and stigmatize people with AIDS, a disproportionate number of them people of color. Reagan blocked funding for AIDS education, prevention, treatment or care, here and in other countries. The AIDS crisis exploded during the Reagan presidency. He let it. The president now being lauded as a swell fellow, a kind, good-hearted, decent guy you just couldn't help but love, was in fact a callous killer. He is directly responsible for the HIV/AIDS deaths of tens of thousands of people then—and millions around the world since.
Ronald Reagan was a union buster. He broke the PATCO air controllers' strike in 1981. This act, at the beginning of a reactionary period in world history, dealt a body blow to the labor movement from which it is still struggling to recover. Workers in the United States pay the price every single day when they face off with the boss on the job, when they collect their paychecks, when they are told they must pay for their health benefits or lose them.
Ronald Reagan was a warmonger. The idea of people being free of U.S. imperialist domination was anathema to him, especially if they were people of color. His war crimes—from the funding, arming and training of some of the very forces today called "terrorists" to wage war on the pro-socialist revolutionary government of Afghanistan, to the invasion of tiny Grenada—are too many to list. But mention should be made of the death squads his regime promoted in El Salvador, and the reactionary contra army and invasion threats that undermined the Nicaraguan Revolution.
Ronald Reagan was a bitter enemy of all poor and working people. What is it that the media and political establishment are celebrating as Reagan's "legacy"?
It is his role in helping to destroy the Soviet Union, the great achievement of the workers' and peasants' revolution of 1917, and setting back the world movement for socialism. The unrelenting nuclear arms buildup and aggressive threats that were the hallmark of his presidency laid the groundwork for the USSR's demise.
The USSR's existence for over 70 years had the effect of challenging imperialist aggression in many areas of the world. The existence of a major alternative economic and political system helped countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to achieve a measure of independence from the former colonial powers. In the Western imperialist countries, it helped the labor and civil-rights movements win and hold onto hard-fought gains, because workers knew there was another system that guaranteed jobs, food, housing and health care for all people.
There are many other crimes that bear Reagan's stamp: the continuing rollback of women's right to choose, the war on immigrants, the speech at a Bitburg, Germany, cemetery honoring Nazi SS troops, and so many more.
The history of the last decade-plus is Reagan's real legacy: more war, more occupations, a return to openly colonialist methods and ideology, more racism, more vicious attacks on women and the lesbian/gay/bi/trans communities, fewer rights and falling living standards for workers, more people hungry and homeless with no safety net.
That, friends, is the real "Ronnie." It's probably not what Nancy had in mind, but it is an unflinching and accurate picture of the man and his legacy, nevertheless.
When I first read Greg's article, I sent him a personal note to congratulate him on a job well done. Shortly thereafter, I was pleased to receive a note back from Greg in which he indicated he had received similar kudos from many others. Almost three years later, the piece still rings true. And "Ronnie"—the Great Communicator himself—couldn't have possibly said it better.
