Dancing on Reagan's Grave

I'll never completely understand the left.

Ronald Reagan believed in freedom. At every turn he was formulating policies to frustrate the machinations of the Soviet Union and its puppet states. Every nation that fell under the suffocating cloud of Communism felt the crushing grip of totalitarianism, the choking sensation in their heart overwhelmed only by the pangs in their belly as central planning obliterated productivity.

And yet, Reagan is declared a Fascist by left wing zealots who this week dance on the old man's grave. What crimes did Reagan commit to deserve the moniker of Fascist? Was it the sponsorship of anti-Communist Contras? Nicaraguans voted for the Contra leadership when given the chance, so who really understood the will of the people? Was it the Defense buildup that showed the Soviet Union to be a bankrupt nation? Would Lech Walensa have been able to overthrow the corrupt Russian lackeys if Reagan and a newly muscular military were not around the corner giving the columns of Russian T-62s a reason to think twice?

There is no doubt that there are times when liberators have had to use shadowy means to advance liberty. Franklin Delano Roosevelt put thousands into internment camps and conscripted hundreds of thousands to fight WW2. Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus, and his federal government arguably overstepped its constitutional authority to stop the South's secession. Even so, the cause was just and the greater principle of liberty and justice for all won out when the wicked would use our constitutional protections to mask evil.

None dare call FDR or Lincoln a Fascist, but the vision, leadership and methods of Reagan are no more offensive than those employed by his forebears. Reagan recognized that American socialism would slowly choke off our national greatness just as National Socialism had Germany, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was attempting to do across the globe.

Perhaps Reagan was a Fascist in the eyes of the left because he believed in individualism, and was weary - as were most Americans - of people using the social safety net as a hammock. Maybe they thought he was a fascist for thinking a man deserved to take home more than seven cents on the dollar.

The overarching truth is that the Berlin wall and the Soviet Empire came down as a direct result of his policies that fragmented global despotism into the manageable pieces we are now dealing with. Millions will be able to see religious and economic freedom in the upcoming decades thanks to him.

In all candor, I think the only freedom the Left cares about is the freedom of debauchery. There is no hobnailed boot grinding a people under its heel that is brutal enough to garner the hatred of the left so long as it spews Marxist inanities and supplies abortion on demand.

However, Reagan spent little time reviling those upon whom revile needed a-heaping. Instead, he continued to sew his sunny vision and optimism across the country and globe.

Ah, screw his critics.

Tim McNabb