Not Spitting on Reagan's Grave (or "we’re all sitting at the fountain, at the five and dime")

No insults, tasteless or pointless celebration. Just some random thoughts about Ronnie and me.

I was barely 13 years old when he became president. I knew very little about politics, apart from the fact that most of the senior citizens I knew hated Ronald Reagan and favored Jimmy Carter. I thought that was ironic; since Reagan was old himself, I naturally figured the oldsters would line up with their own kind. I knew nothing of social programs or the differences between Republicans and Democrats. When people branded Carter a "liberal," I believed them, and it would be years before I realized how far to the right Carter really was. And, of course, there was the occasional Bircher who branded Reagan a "communist symp." I grew to understand politics during the eight years of the Reagan presidency, but never hated him the way I would come to despise both Bush the Elder and Bush the younger...and along with them, Clinton, another murderer who got a free pass because he was a charismatic Democrat.

My friend Justin had this to say:

I think his legacy is really as the paradigm of the 'compassionate' conservative, or as the kind of person the right loves because he can make their fascism seem so palatable to average Americans on the basis of his personality.

No, there won't be any mindless insults here, no glorification of someone's tragic illness and death. Sure, it's more honor than he gave most people, but Ronald Wilson Reagan was one of a kind. He forced the left, and rhetorical theorists, to re-write their theories and reconsider their political strategies. He succeeded in mobilizing people backwards, from a cynical 1970s into a time that strongly resembled the memories (not the realities) of the 1950s.

At age 16, I had barely discovered punk rock, and with it, punk politics. But then my life changed drastically when I attended "Rock Against Reagan" in Salt Lake City. I can't remember the bands who were present, but we all rallied and sang and shouted in downtown SLC, right under Reagan's hotel room. I met a girl who wore plaid, slamdanced with me, and hated Reagan. I saw socialist literature...probably for the first time. And I started to form a picture, which would suffice until I learned the difference between anarchism and socialism. No Reagan=no Rock Against Reagan=no eventual political consciousness for Matt.

Camper Van Beethoven's last album, "Key Lime Pie," featured an immortal song, "Sweethearts," complete with happy-go-lucky melody, faithful harmony, and a cheerful fiddle. It was an ode to Reagan during the final, awkward days of his presidency:

’cause he’s always living back in dixon
Circa 1949
And we’re all sitting at the fountain, at the five and dime
’cause he’s living in some b-movie
The lines they are so clearly drawn
In black and white life is so easy
And we’re all coming along on this one
’cause he’s on a secret mission
Headquarters just radioed in
He left his baby at the dancehall
While the band plays on some sweet song
And on a mission over china
The lady opens up her arms
The flowers bloom where you haved placed them
And the lady smiles, just like mom
Angels wings are icing over
Mcdonnell-douglas olive drab
They bear the names of our sweethearts
And the captain smiles, as we crash
’cause in the mind of ronald reagan
Wheels they turn and gears they grind
Buildings collapse in slow motion
And trains collide, everything is fine
Everything is fine
Everything is fine

Russell Arben Fox had this to say, which is basically true from the point of view of both politics and political communication, even though I think it underplays the hatred Reagan did generate among the true left:

I've had my brushes with profound anti-Reagan loathing, but--while obviously comparisons are difficult to make, given the radically different contexts--it seems to me that the hatred of Reagan, compared with the present-day hatred of Bush, was often a bitter, forced and warped thing, whereas I can genuinely see grounds for detesting the current president. I guess with Bush II it is not implausible to claim that he deserves contempt, but could anyone really make that claim about Reagan? Probably, but somehow it just doesn't seem as reasonable to me. We were listening the Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" last Saturday--how I love that program--and we'd only heard the news about Reagan's death about twenty minutes before it started. Keillor, who is about as solid a Minnesota liberal as you can find, opened the program commenting that "one of the great public figures of our time" had died. There were many gasps when he said the name, plus a few rude jerks who clapped, and one who let out a whoop. Keillor, gracious to the end, send a few nice things about the man, summing up by saying that Reagan left liberals like himself "profoundly befuddled," primarily through his "deep sincerity and endless charm." I think that just about nails why Reagan-hatred never really took off.

Although I must disagree with Russell's observation that Reagan-hatred wasn't as pronounced as Bush-hatred (try telling that to anyone from Central America or any U.S. activists in solidarity with Central American activists...or unions, especially Air Traffic Controllers...) I do agree profoundly with his citation of Keillor. It was not only leftists who were befuddled. Reagan forced rhetorical theorists to re-think and re-write their theories. He probably inspired a hundred groundbreaking scholarly articles in my discipline. He was simply the most charismatic president I have seen in my lifetime, and it was precisely because that charisma was tied to ideas that seemed regressive to so many of us that he was so, well, befuddling. I think his success taught those of us who call ourselves progressives some revolutionary lessons that many of us still haven't fully absorbed.

I don't know what political purpose is served in throwing a party or laughing at his suffering. The true politics of compassion, something Reagan's ilk will never really understand or embrace, are incompatable with revelling in anyone's death. Sober assessment of a destructive and regressive political career, sure, that's important--even essential. But "good riddance?" Nah, maybe just a sardonic "May God keep him...and not send him back."

Or, maybe just an R.E.M. song from 1987...when the old man was getting the rug pulled out from under him:

You're beautiful more beautiful than me
You're honorable more honorable than me
Loyal to the Bank of America
It's a sign of the times
It's a sign of the times
You're sharpening stones, walking on coals
To improve your business acumen.
Sharpening stones, walking on coals,
To improve your business acumen.
Vested interest united ties, landed gentry rationalize
Look who bought the myth, by jingo, buy America
It's a sign of the times
it's a sign of the times
You're sharpening stones, walking on coals
To improve your business acumen.
Sharpening stones, walking on coals,
To improve your business acumen.
Enemy sighted, enemy met, I'm addressing the realpolitik
Look who bought the myth, by jingo, buy America
"Let us not assassinate this man further Senator,
you've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir?
At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
We're sharpening stones, walking on coals
To improve your business acumen.
Sharpening stones, walking on coals,
To improve your business acumen.
Enemy sighted, enemy met, I'm addressing the realpolitik
You've seen start and you've seen quit
(I'm addressing the table of content)
I always thought of you as quick
Exhuming McCarthy
(Meet me at the book burning)
Exhuming McCarthy
(Meet me at the book burning)