Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General "Reagan Principles"

Maybe Reagan was like the movie "Victor Victoria". He was an actor playing like a president who wanted to be an actor playing like a president, but couldnt pull it off.

Now, come on NWP, surely that's a close description?

you see, your Honour, Austin made me do it....

Perhaps some of us have a different view of Ronald Reagan because we spent our politically-formative years living under his 1967-1975 governership in California. I know I was sick of him long before he ever ran for national office.

One little-known fact from his bio: Reagan was a registered Democrat up until 1962. Following John F. Kennedy's election, he announced that "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me." (Which is ironic, because that is exactly what many have been saying about the Republican Party these days.)

Anyway, by 1964 (just two years after switching parties) his ideology had so changed that he became an avid Goldwater supporter. Was it an epiphany, a mental breakdown, or just the kind of political opportunism that I mentioned earlier that so changed his political outlook? What was happening in the 1960-1964 era that could have made such a difference? The only thing I can think of was the civil rights movement, but I was only 9-13 years old at the time. Am I missing something?

Schlack ...that is too funny. I had no idea that pic existed.

Supreme, dude, supreme.

it didnt till last night, you called it into existence.

When we begin delving into history all sorts of odd things pop up, sometimes things we knew and things we didn't coalesce into entirely new pictures. McCarthyism has popped into the picture. When Sen. H. mentioned Ronald Reagan feeling a need to carry a weapon during these times it sent me off on a google search for information. Amazing times those were! Americans dragged into inquisitions and forced to name names and bear witness against fellow Americans whose only crime was to think outside the current political box. These Americans in turn were "Blacklisted" and publicly humiliated by the government. People like Burl Ives, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Miller, Pete Seeger, Orson Welles, and hundreds more. Mr. Reagan was deeply influenced by this and was apparently on the side of Big Brother and the Thought Police.
Was this the beginning of the right wing/left wing controversy that we still face today? Apparently so as the Right wing still tends to use fear and to discredit and try to humiliate anyone in disagreement with it's policies and to label them/us "Un American". The power brokers, think tankers, and string pullers have been at work longer than I had imagined.

Schlack...
Wonderful work...what a talent!

Appreciate you turning that into a visual.

I too lived through the time which is how my personal experiences were formed. I also heard Ronald W. Reagan speak in person and would strongly disagree with you about his oratorical skills as would a large number of other people. "I was conscious throughout the procedure (the 80's), which explains why it hurt so much." I too was conscious then and it didn't hurt me. Are you implying that because I didn't feel any pain I was not conscious? Or is that comment just an inadvertent bit condescension?

No it was exactly as Ronald W. Reagan described it the Democratic Party moved to the left. In the book of talks from Reagan's radio talks one can see how Reagan remained constant in his political beliefs but the Democratic Party didn't.

Maybe Greger you need to do some more research. Like taking a look at the Venona Papers. The Venona Papers are files from the KGB that show the claims of Sen. McCarthy to be right, that there were communists in our government. Those communists in our government and in other aspects of American life, such as our labor unions, had the goal of communist America. It is time for you to think out side the box Greger and look at information that you disagree with. You might learn that your opinion of the McCarthy era is not as factual as you think it is. Yes the tactics of Sen. McCarthy were wrong but which is worse a few thousand people losing their jobs or over 20,000,000 people losing their lives? McCarthy caused people to lose their jobs but the communists in the USSR, our enemy at the time, caused millions of people to die or spend years in the gulags of Siberia.