New Statue Celebrates Ronald Reagan’s 100th Birthday

President Reagan did not commit treason. First of all, the weapons were sold to Iran through the CIA and it is entirely plausible that the President was not aware of it. After the Congress inexplicably cut off aid for the Contras in Nicaragua (who were not good guys, but nevertheless the only group available to combat the Sandinistas who were the paid agents of the Soviets) Reagan told the CIA that we had to find some way to help them. The CIA did break the law, but not by selling arms to Iran, but by diverting funds to the Contras. A law passed by those who did not understand the greater good of stopping international communism, an ideology responsible for murdering over 100 million people in the 20th century. In addition Reagan did not lie when he testified that he did not know or remember, because he probably was left out of the loop. He was known for not being a "detail guy" and delegating authority. So there was no perjury.

Reagan was not suffering from Alzheimer's during his last years in office. Howeve, even if he were, that deserves our sympathy.His official biographer, Edmund Morris, spent an immense amount of time with Reagan and said that although he began to slow down after he was shot, it was a very slow, gradual decline.

It is true Stockman left, however, the economy expanded and revenues increased after Reagan cut taxes 25% for every single income group. The deficit developed because of increased spending by on defense, which is a necessary role of government, and because Congress did not cut social spending, which is not the role of government.

Reagan did defeat the Soviets and communism and indeed won the Cold War, but not simply because he outspent them. His administration also got the OPEC nations to increase production of oil, lowering the price per barrel, and seriously hurting the Soviets revenue as they were also major exporters of oil. Furthermore, Reagan was not afraid to "rock the boat" and give financial and rhetorical help to anti-communist resistance movements behind the iron curtain. Just ask Lech Walesa and Solidarity (Poland), Vaclav Havel and Charter 77 (Czechoslovakia), and Natan Sharansky and the Moscow Human Rights Organization (USSR). Sharansky said that when Reagan called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire" it gave him and other political prisoners great hope and encouragement because, finally, someone in the West was telling the truth.

The argument about how we outspent North Vietnam, but they did not fall, is flawed because it ignores the fact that they were receiving aid from the Chinese and Soviets. Plus, everyone knows that we were not able to go all out because of our concern for civilians and for escalating the conflict into a third World War. The anti-war movement condemned the US, but had nothing to say after we pulled out and the North Vietnamese communists invaded the south and murdered a million people and caused a million more to flee.

Daniel of CA 1:29PM February 08, 2011