Posted 5:30 PM by Gene

Ronald Reagan achieved much, and much that will endure. First on the list was his forceful shove that brought down European Communism and abated nuclear conflict. He put America back on its feet after the woeful mismanagement of four incompetents. Following a dreadful recession (in part to correct Nixon's catastrophic economic tinkering and the inflation that followed) his presidency launched the twenty-year expansion that, if it has relied too much on firings and LEGENDARY WELCHES, and nerds with buttons, at least gave most people an increased sense of well-being. He made it possible for America to use its military strength again without apology, releasing us from the paralysis of Vietnam and halting Communism's spread to our south as well. All this said, he did bad things too: he allowed free-lancing rogues to play scoundrelly patriot games with our foreign policy in his last disengaged years; he let budget deficits soar (which did or didn't matter depending on your party and the time frame) and government bloat, and he signed the S&L Robbery Act, one of the worst pieces of -- legislation in the post-war era. Nor did he stop the social rot from advancing ever further in society; despite his putative opposition, abortions remained as fashionable a means of population control as ever, and our creative culture stinks in no small measure because he never said anything. (Or worse; he made RUPERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! an American citizen.) Most to his discredit, despite taking what he called "responsibility" for the massacre of our Marines in Lebanon he did nothing to stop the spread of terrorism, a black mark, unignorable and unbleachable. But the screaming meemies (and one suspects they will try to keep their gloating fairly quiet, except on the campuses) cannot wrest his accomplishments from him. He certainly wasn't our best president -- the knee-jerk conservatives will bloviate that case in the next few days -- but in the important ways he was a darn sight better than what we had for a long time, or what we have now, and he came at exactly the right time. Truth to tell, we could use his calm optimism in spades about now.

One very good thing: at least neither he nor his family have to suffer further from the awfulness of Alzheimer's. He is now in a place where there is no Alzheimer's, a place with nothing but peace.