I couldn't let today's glowing Des Moines Register Reagan retrospective go unrebutted.
Here is the link: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/...-
Cross posted at http://leftturnsonly.wordpress.com/
Now, it seems that the Register wanted to do a nice piece about a former president on his 100th birthday.
But by showing the impact Reagan had on the Iowa Republican Party, and ignoring his reaction (or lack therof) to the farm crisis, and the hard times Iowa went through during the 1980's, they are disserving the very state they represent, and adding to the revisionist history that paints Reagan as the greatest thing that ever happened to America.
I am the grandson of an Iowa corn farmer. My grandfather was fortunate to make it through the 1980's farm crisis without losing the family farm where my father's family grew up.
But many thousands of others weren't so lucky.
Now, Reagan didn't cause the farm crisis. There were many factors at play including shrinking export markets and higher interest rates, not all of which can be attributed to the Reagan administration. Never the less, Reagan drug his feet in response to the crisis. His laissez-faire attitude let it fester. He figured the free market would take care of it.
And it did. The free market caused Willie Nelson to stage a concert. Because that's what we want from our government, to sit idly by while our country crumbles, and let celebrity fund-raisers solve all of our problems. That's the free market way!
Well, of course Farm Aid wasn't nearly enough to solve any of the problems. Government intervention could have staved off many bankruptcies and foreclosures. Many family farms could have been saved.
But that would have been compassionate. That would have been the right thing to do.
Of course the farm crisis never truly ended. Few farmers nowadays are willing to risk their livelihood and their family's security to the whim of the financial jet set. Corporations swooped in and bought up all the farmland, and the family farmer, the staple of the American agricultural tradition, died.
Farming isn't the only negative impact the Reagan Revolution had on Iowa.
I grew up in Des Moines in the 1980's. Terry Branstad, a Reagan Republican, was governor. It was a crumbling remnant of a city. A few corporations like Principal and Ruan made out like bandits, and their skyscrapers dominate the skyline today.
But the common man was left behind.
My father, a skilled and experienced tool and die technitian, endured a series of layoffs and struggled to eek out a living. Firestone, the primary employer of the working-class north side used a decades long string of layoffs and labor disputes to send a crushing local depression throughout the north side.
Since the mid 1990's, under two successful Democratic Governors and a new-found partnership between public and private interests, (gasp!) Des Moines revitalized itself.
The downtown interstate loop was completely redone, complete with new exit ramps and overhead bridges.
A new Science Center and Arena were constructed.
The Papajohn sculpture park was created. Private gifting followed the city mandating the park space in a formerly depressed area.
Principal and the city partnered for a new riverwalk along the Des Moines River. (Then took all the credit and naming rights!)
The East Village, a former abandoned warehouse district near the State Capitol Building, is now a hip and trendy spot for nightlife and young artists.
And more.
These are all examples of a progressive, modern public/private partnership. It represents the antithesis of the conservative, "government is bad" meme. And it created a vibrant, world-class city, where before there was none.
But Iowa got tired of two decades of progress and reelected the guy who oversaw the deterioration and brought in the hard times. I'm sure America would reelect the corpse of Reagan if they could. Where would we be then?
edit 07/13/12: Removed a paragraph with factual errors about the lineage of my family's former farm.