President Lyndon Johnson overcame his Southern past to promote the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through Congress, because he knew it was the right thing to do in his time!
President Jimmy Carter took a strong stand on human rights in Haiti, the Philippines, South Africa and elsewhere when he was President, because he knew it was the right thing to do in his time!
On the other hand, Ronald Reagan did everything to work against advancement of civil rights in America and human rights overseas in his time, refusing to condemn the governments of Haiti, the Philippines, and South Africa!
Only when Haiti and the Philippines overthrew their governments in 1986 in revolution, did Reagan, belatedly, endorse the changes and say he was for human rights in those nations, only five years late, and only when the deed was done to overthrow both dictatorships!
And when Reagan had a chance to condemn apartheid in South Africa, he threatened to, and finally did veto, a resolution passed in Congress to start sanctions against that racist regime. The Congress went ahead and overrode the veto, the first time in the 20th century that Congress had overridden a President on a foreign policy matter, with many Republicans joining Democrats in overriding the veto. This is so well depicted in the fantastic film, THE BUTLER, one of the best films in many years to come from Hollywood about history and politics!
In the film, the actor portraying Reagan shows insensitivity to the main character, black actor Forest Whitaker, on this issue, but then asks, is he possibly wrong in his decision to veto? Forrest Whittaker does not answer, but the resounding answer is YES!
So despite the adulation of Ronald Reagan on the far RIGHT of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, Reagan is correctly depicted as NOT being an advocate of civil rights and human rights, and did not have the courage and foresight of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter, who were principled men for good, unlike our 40th President!
Ronald, you are a very troubled man. Is this the garbage you contaminate students with? Your bias and hate knows no limit it seems.During the Reagan years one by one South American dictatorships fell thanks to the domino effect caused by the downfall of the Argentine dicratorship after the Falkland War. In Eastern Europe ask them ,the oppressed freedom loving people who their hero is? Ask Russians that were in Siberia what there reactions was to Reagans frontal attack towards communism, ask them what they thought when for the first time they heard an American President call the leftist soviet empire by their real name, evil empire. Your leftist cowardly democrats like Carter or Ted “I’ll abandon another woman to die” Kennedy always sucked up to the soviets. And I know , like all leftist college professor and other leftist liberal drones ,your hero is Gorby, right? As for the movie, its Hollywood,what else can one expect? Hopefully in time we the People , will bypass Washington, the elites, Hollywood and the corrupt media with art. V of the Constitution. Not today, not tomorrow but eventually we will make good use of Mason’s gift to us, to be able to preserve the Republic.
I thought, Robert, you did not believe in insults! You are sounding more and more like Juan Domingo Peron, who I decided had been destructive enough on here, and was always talking about his homeland, Argentina. Now you are acting like him, and I think you are him under cover.
Whether or not on that, you talk about Eastern Europe, which is all and good. But when it comes to the dark skinned people of Haiti or the horrors of South Africa at that point, or “those Asians” who were once our colony, the Philippines, the denial of human rights to them is simply not that important by comparison, right, Robert (Juan)? 🙁
And yes, Gorbachev has MORE to do with the downfall of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe than Reagan, who is simply idolized much too much!
You deserve the attacks you get on here, and that you will get when people read your garbage! You should be ashamed of yourself! I have no intention of answering you anymore, until and when you apologize for your vicious attack! 🙁
Just got back from seeing The Butler. Excellent movie to see in relation to this topic.
We told you so Professor 😉
I understand the urge to take what looks to a layman like nothing more than a mean spirit or a mess of contradictions and brand it. (The New Libertarianism! Burkean Revivalists!) But more and more, I think Gov. Bobby Jindal, Louisiana’s Republican rising star, had it right when he said his party was in danger of becoming simply “the stupid party.â€
I remember well when Pope John Paul, shortly after becoming Pope, went back to his home country, Poland, to speak. It was then, within the masses of the crowds, that the people realized THEY had the power to overthrow the Soviet control. Shortly after it was a UNION shipyard electrician who started to organize the citizens of Poland. He later became President of Poland.
It was the marketing/public relations managers who gave Ronny the credit. Of course the spoon propaganda fed lemmings ignored what was right in front of them. In truth, it was a Union Electrician who made the crack in the “Iron Curtain” and then the rest of Eastern Europe tumbled like dominoes.
“There is a crack in everything…that’s how the light gets in.
So in summation, it was the power of union workers that gave Poland to throw the shackles of the Soviet Union….and meanwhile Reagan was destroying unions in this country.
LOL…Hey Professor. What just came to mind was Joseph Campbell’s book, “The Power of Myth.”. Give Reagan another decade and they’ll have him walking on water.
Rob Juan believes in fairy tales. Mature adults perfer to deal with facts and reality.
Actually, Engineer, to many conservatives and Republicans, Ronald Reagan already walks on water, while Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson are pilloried, along with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, despite the fact all four did more for human rights than Reagan, if one looks at the facts, not mythology!
Professor we have recognized Robert is Juan from day one. It was only a matter of time before he could no longer keep up the charade as he revealed himself in his customary nasty, ranting, insulting manner. It was just a matter if time before Professor Feinman covered a topic he knew would drive the rat out if his hole. Leading Robert along allowing him to thoroughly hang himself was brilliant! Well played Dr. Feinman! LOL!
I hope others join me and totally ignore this dimwit as he adds nothing to the conversation or this blog while he continues to make up stories in his rattled brain, he insults our views, Progressive ideology and especially, and drools to challenge and insult the Professor!
Engineer has caught him on a number of inconsistencies, as has Princess Leia, and I have revealed that he more often than not plagiarizes from right wing pages.
Robert you will soon be shut down again and we will wait in anticipation for the next “character”
you will bring to the blog attempting to hide under your cowardly deception!
Did you honestly think we would not figure it out! Hahaha! Gotcha!
Maggie,
People can’t hide the voice in their writings. Certain verbiage styles, plus the constant writing mistakes will always give them away.
In England there is a saying, “We are born branded on the edge of your tongue,” Accents, word patterns, etc learned in early childhood stay with us. These early learned aspects convey social status stratification at birth, plus the education levels of our parents or the people who raised us and the neighborhoods we grew up in.
Remember right off Rob Juan’s lie that he was a lawyer? I could tell by the lack of proper application of logical debate argument rules clearly demonstrated that he had no education as such. I even decided to quiz him in 7th, and yes, even 4th grade math that he could not display proficiency in.
Now getting back to the “Lawyer Lie.”. The Freudian exposure to fabricate this blaringly blatant inaccuracy displayed a low self-esteem, and probably even self-loathing personality. This is where the explosive, lashing, anger originates towards those he feels threatened by. I have found this very typical of those whom claim the “Conservative Republican” mantle.
So Maggie, this is where Isaac Asimov’s quote applies well.
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.—
Ergo, I give you the Rob Juan example.
Professor and All,
Allow me to pass on this counter debate should you once again be confronted with it.
If those who claim it was Reagan’s tough talk that brought down the Soviet Empire, I present President Kennedy’s toe to toe, nose to nose, confronting of Russia over the Cuban Missile crisis’s. I quote President Kennedy, ” If they want war, I’ll give them war!”. Russia removed the missiles but as a trade of the U.S. removing missiles from Turkey. Tough talk did not collapse the Soviet Union then and it did not cause the fall during Reagan’s time. Just another myth applied to the man.
It was diplomacy that won that confrontation in 1962 and the start in 1985 of the Soviet Union along with the failing economis for their final days…not some tough talk nonsence.
Thanks, Maggie and Engineer, for your support, and Engineer, you are so right in what you say—that diplomacy, not tough talk, is what leads to change in history! And Gorbachev had a lot to do with the decline of the Soviet Union, and is not given enough credit, making it seem as if Reagan did it all by himself. It was when Reagan stopped tough talk and used diplomacy in his second term, with the backing of Nancy, that we saw the two leaders work together to end what was untenable, the Soviet Union!
@Jane Doe
I saw the movie too. The movie was at the top of the box office for the second week in a row but you wouldn’t have been able to guess that would be the case at the theater I went to. Counting my family, I would say about 20 or less in attendance.
Ronald: You seem to be very sensitive I see. Sorry for the delay in replying but I was out of town. If you felt insulted I apologize. But I would like to know what did I write that made you think I insulted you? Are you not a leftist college professor? Do you not have an anti-conservative bias? Do you not despise or hate Tea Partiers/Conservative Reaganite? If what I said about your post, that it is garbage, somehow insulted you, well I apologize. As for you being a disturbed man, well honestly you seemed obsessed with Reagan and trashing him.
I don’t know about the Professor but as far as Conservatives are concerned, I’m ok with moderate Conservatives, such as Colin Powell. Any further to the right, like the Tea people, are too loony for my tastes.
I’m curious. What is a moderate conservative? Is it someone who votes for a big government leftist liberal candidate twice, Obama, instead of his fellow moderate Republicans , McCain and Romney? Is it someone who agrees with the liberal agenda, like cap and trade, amnesty, open borders, abortion, Boehnercare, higher taxes, big government and discrimination known as affirmative action?
It is great that you apologize, but it is not an issue of me being sensitive.
You like to character assassinate political leaders you do not like, but if I criticize the icon, Ronald Reagan, who did more to undermine the future of the middle class than anyone, you are affronted. Are you aware that Reagan said publicly during the Watergate Scandal that Nixon should burn the tapes? This is a man you trust and believe in, who would coverup executive abuses? And this man supported South Africa and dictatorships in Haiti and the Philippines, which is undeniable, and you have no problem with that? It is YOU who are jaded, while I am stating and teaching the truth about the myth of Reagan, the image creation of a god like figure!
I am for moderate conservatism as an alternative belief, which accepts the responsibility of government in our lives, but not the extreme conservatism of the Tea Party. I am not a disturbed man, and I do not hate or despise, just believe in reporting the facts, not myths. I actually like Reagan personally, but disagreed with most of what he wished to do, much of it stopped by the fact of a Democratic House for six years, and then both houses Democratic the last two years!
Extreme right wing conservatism is destructive, and wishes to bring us back to the 19th century Gilded Age with its corrupt Senate, by the way, and that was why we had a progressive movement, and the development of modern American liberalism, which brought about all of the wonderful reforms that have made us a better nation. And yes, the wealthy MUST pay more to help those millions in need, and be thankful they live in a nation where they could become wealthy, but be willing to give back without selfishness and bitterness!
And Rustbelt Democrat, I am on board with what you say about moderate conservatism!
A moderate conservative has views leaning to the right but are much closer to the center on the left-right political spectrum. A moderate liberal or progressive has views leaning to the left but are much closer to the center on the left-right political spectrum. Moderates compromise to get work done. Without compromise, you get stalemate, which, due to the Tea people, is what we have right now.
Perfectly correct, Rustbelt Democrat!