The Important Work of Government: Elevating Ronald Reagan
Posted on February 13, 2007
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Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick is catching some flack. He’s catching some flack from political hack Grover Norquist. The reason for Patrick’s flack? It seems he has the good sense not to sign a proclamation naming Feb. 6 “Ronald Reagan Day.”
According to the Boston Globe:
Thirty-three governors — 20 Republicans and 13 Democrats — inked the agreement to recognize Reagan’s birthday in their states, Norquist said. The 17 remaining governors either didn’t reply or refused outright; Patrick was a frank “no,” Norquist said.
It is not enough for Norquist’s “Ronald Reagan Legacy Project” to seek to name a major landmark in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as in each of 3067 countries. They also want a calendar day. Wikipedia lists over 60, buildings, schools, roads, and parks named for the Republican icon.
The Washington DC area is home to two of the most prominent as well as the most ironic successes of the misbegotten legacy project. Like George W. Bush, Reagan preached small government while spending increased and his administration ran up record (for then) deficits. When the most expensive and largest U.S. government building after the Pentagon opened in 1998 it was named for the then still-surviving Reagan. National Airport was also renamed for him — though one of Reagan’s most notable attacks on labor (and there were many) was the firing of all the air traffic controllers who went on strike.
Norquist’s argument for why Patrick should sign such a proclamation, according to The Globe, was that Reagan won the electoral vote in Massachusetts twice. If we begin awarding calendar days to everyone who wins elections, we’ll soon have a calendar stuffed with meaningless commemorations.
It’s pretty obvious, given the 50-state coordinated effort, that the effort to win a proclamation, which could otherwise carry all the weight of a “pet your cat day,” is to get a national holiday for the second most dangerous president of a generation. There are several stand-out presidents who faced great challenges or achieved great things. Still, there’s no FDR day, no JFK Day, nothing for the tremendous achiever LBJ, tarnished by Vietnam, not even a day for Thomas Jefferson, whose ideas and philosophies so shaped the nation. A Ronald Reagan Day would be nothing but a myth around an ideology, lionizing, maybe, a remarkable man, but hardly a great president or contributor to the common good.
It’s traditional to consider such naming commemorations 25 years after the death of a prominent or popular figure. That allows the test of time to say whether, indeed, the person has a legitimate, memorable legacy, and what that legacy means to others. The Ronald Reagan commemoration began well before his death, and never sought popular support.
Instead, such unseemly commemorations have been early and rapid and have been kept “under the radar” (air traffic controllers, beware). There is almost no news of new official govt. action on the many namings until someone like Deval Patrick has the courage to stand on principle.
Politicians have to pick their battles. Few have the popularity and support to resist the opposing party on a commemoration when there is other meaningful work to accomplish. Others may see little harm in granting political opponents a symbolic win, especially if it improves the chance for support on their own initiatives.
Thus we revise history. We grant the civic equivalent of sainthood to the undeserving.
Ronald Reagan was a popular president. It does not necessarily follow that he was a good president. His optimism was welcome after a dark period when American hostages were held in Iran. Some believe his “Morning in America” cheeriness combined with an aggressive foreign policy, social conservatism, and huge deficit spending set the stage for the second coming of modern conservatism or neo-conservatism under which the country suffers today.
It’s clear that there are much more important things to do than to actively deprive Republicans of their patron saint. I hope leaders will not acquiesce too easily when faced with the challenge. Cape Canaveral regained it’s name when grief subsided over the Kennedy assassination, in favor of tradition. It will be much more difficult once history decides on Reagan if there are hundreds of landmarks to reconsider.
[This article was updated 2/18/07 for clarity.]
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