From Make America Great Again to Make Afghanistan Great Again?

[jp1]

I see Reagan as the last time greatness inhabited the White House. He brought us out of our petulant funk of the 1960s and 70s. He humbled the Soviet Union. He helped break a cancerous inflation. He reminded us that government serves at the peoples' pleasure and not the other way around. He didn't lecture us about "teachable moments", he spoke to us as an equal. I can't imagine any of the recent incumbents joking with the people wheeling him into the operating room to cut out an assassin's bullet.

I miss the Gipper.

And he lied about "welfare queens" to start the misperception that lazy, poor black people collect the majority of government benefits. And ran up larger deficits than every president before him so that he could give tax cuts to the wealthiest. And was one of the last world leaders to ever even say the word AIDS, and that only after his press secretary on more than one occasion had used questions about AIDS from reporters to make fag jokes. No thanks. I'll take an intelligent nerd in mom jeans any day of the week compared to him.

[LDAHL]

And he lied about "welfare queens" to start the misperception that lazy, poor black people collect the majority of government benefits. And ran up larger deficits than every president before him so that he could give tax cuts to the wealthiest. And was one of the last world leaders to ever even say the word AIDS, and that only after his press secretary on more than one occasion had used questions about AIDS from reporters to make fag jokes. No thanks. I'll take an intelligent nerd in mom jeans any day of the week compared to him.

It would be interesting to see who history remembers more fondly a century or two hence.

[jp1]

It would be interesting to see who history remembers more fondly a century or two hence.

I suppose that will depend on who gets to write the history books.

[goldensmom]

I suppose that will depend on who gets to write the history books.

Excellent point. For example, I remember John F. Kennedy as a president when he was president and probably do not think as fondly of him as those who only read about him.

[catherine]

Excellent point. For example, I remember John F. Kennedy when as a president when he was president and probably do not think as fondly of him as those who only read about him.

I was in 6th grade when he died, so I hadn't formed a very intelligent opinion of him; I do remember being carried away by his charisma. But I actually wrote Jackie a letter afterwards. I thought she was so classy and beautiful, and I thought that Lady Bird was such an inferior replacement as a First Lady. Now I kind of appreciate Lady Bird for her work planting wildflowers along the interstates. A simple touch, but I love it.

[jp1]

Excellent point. For example, I remember John F. Kennedy when as a president when he was president and probably do not think as fondly of him as those who only read about him.

Well there was at least one person who didn't think of him fondly as a president... But seriously, imagine how differently history looks from the perspective of native Americans, to think of just one example.

[LDAHL]

It's hard to say specifically how future readers and writers of history will judge. Probably mostly in terms of how our past affects their present. Was Western Civilization a flowering of new knowledge and individual freedom or a rapacious destroyer of weaker cultures in the name of individual profit?

[jp1]

Was Western Civilization a flowering of new knowledge and individual freedom or a rapacious destroyer of weaker cultures in the name of individual profit?

Yes.

[goldensmom]

I was in 6th grade when he died, so I hadn't formed a very intelligent opinion of him; I do remember being carried away by his charisma. But I actually wrote Jackie a letter afterwards. I thought she was so classy and beautiful, and I thought that Lady Bird was such an inferior replacement as a First Lady. Now I kind of appreciate Lady Bird for her work planting wildflowers along the interstates. A simple touch, but I love it.

I also remember President Kennedy’s charisma and Mrs. Kennedy’s classiness. I was in 5th grade when the president was assassinated. My family was politically active - both sides - which made for many spirited kitchen table discussions. My only exposure to things political were family, the Detroit Free Press, the 6 PM news on TV and a few magazines. No political pundits, 24 hr news channels or social media. I certainly hold no ill toward President Kennedy but knew enough about his less than 3 year term to have a more real assessment (as I am sure you do too, catherine) than many who only know from what they read. We will never know what history would have written had he served 8 years as president.