on Reagan's death
Jun. 9th, 2004 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonConsidering that this is the only thing on local radio, and the funeral is going to be here this weekend, ya knew I was going to say something ;)
Yes, Reagan was president during my formative years, but that's exactly why my opinions of him aren't very strong - he first took office when I was around 7 and too young to be aware, and left when I was 15 and too worried about school and boys and the latest Cure album to care.
It was destined that I was never going to hear anything good about him; all of my family that were of voting age in the 1980's were dedicated Democrats.
In retrospect, I'm not too thrilled with his policies - Nancy's "Just Say No" which inaugurated the current "head in the sand" approach to illegal drug education, and his lethal inaction in the early years of the AIDS crisis are galling even 20 years on. It's also been suggested in some quarters that his Alzheimer's affected while he was still in office (can't find a working link to save my life) - so while maybe he was telling the truth about not knowing anything about IranContra, wouldn't it have been better if he resigned?
My sum opinion is that I'm glad I get Friday off, but won't be watching any of the coverage. And I find it subtly ironic that his funeral is during DC's GBLTQ Pride week ;)
Yes, Reagan was president during my formative years, but that's exactly why my opinions of him aren't very strong - he first took office when I was around 7 and too young to be aware, and left when I was 15 and too worried about school and boys and the latest Cure album to care.
It was destined that I was never going to hear anything good about him; all of my family that were of voting age in the 1980's were dedicated Democrats.
In retrospect, I'm not too thrilled with his policies - Nancy's "Just Say No" which inaugurated the current "head in the sand" approach to illegal drug education, and his lethal inaction in the early years of the AIDS crisis are galling even 20 years on. It's also been suggested in some quarters that his Alzheimer's affected while he was still in office (can't find a working link to save my life) - so while maybe he was telling the truth about not knowing anything about IranContra, wouldn't it have been better if he resigned?
My sum opinion is that I'm glad I get Friday off, but won't be watching any of the coverage. And I find it subtly ironic that his funeral is during DC's GBLTQ Pride week ;)
