What have I ever done to make your party hate me so much, Mr. Boehner?

[calimary]

48. ronald reagan WAS a national disaster. One of the worst things to happen to America in all of its

history. No exaggeration. He put a "human face" on greed and selfishness. And religious fanaticism. He made being a cheapskate respectable. He made being a Neanderthal respectable. He made it okay to be willfully ignorant, turn your nose up at those less fortunate, he made it okay to assume EVERYONE and ANYONE needing food stamps or some sort of public assistance were nothing but lazy moochers and welfare queens. He made robber barons respectable - admired, even lionized. He made cheap sloganeering respectable because then you didn't need to think or reason or try to read or learn more, or dig beneath the headlines or talking points. He made it cool to be proudly stupid, ill-informed, paranoid, and gun-crazed. You know that comment then-candidate Obama made - about the folks who cling to their guns and bibles? Well, before reagan, those people kinda hid in the closets. They were the crazy uncle you kept hidden away in the attic when company came over because you knew enough to be ashamed of him. And reagan brought them out into polite company, proud and unapologetic, to take their place out in the open, stand in the sunshine, and feel totally justified to get in yer face.

SO much damage, destruction, distortion, desolation, and death he single-handedly wrought upon this country. I trace most of the ills with which we now are afflicted - DIRECTLY back to him. He made piratizing respectable. He made pollution respectable. He elevated the science deniers nearly to some sort of sick priesthood, where they were legitimized and held up as objects of admiration rather than of the scorn they truly deserve.

HIDEOUS legacy. It'll take us generations to recover from it and somehow struggle back onto the correct track. We've been set SO FAR BACK, legislatively, morally, intellectually, and yes - spiritually, that it'll be YEARS before we approach some sense of normalcy again.