Week 2’s Contribution - Ronald Reagan - Love or Loath?

http://www.reagansociety.org/AboutUs.htm

After watching the documentary on Ronald Reagan, supplied by the BBC and its heavily left leaning agenda, it was important to see that although Reagan had many supporters he also had those that opposed him. The two websites chosen are examples of those that support Reagan and those that were against his presidency. Borth are influential to those that seek the country to follow in Reagan’s footsteps or to those that take the view that Regan crippled the country and left a heavy footprint leaving his successes much work to regain the United States of America to its former glory.


‘Ronald Regan Conservative Society’ The society was created in an effort to preserve the legacy of R.R and make sure that Americans knew that the R.R they all know and loved has still left something for them. They feel as though R.R. demonstrated to America that having vision and principles can help not only win the election but also the hearts of the Americans. The website shows Regan in good light, thus aims to continue the legacy left by their hero; lower taxes, smaller government, pro-life/family policies and legislation and supporting a war on terror. However many of these statements or claims being suggested by the society can actually be held at great debate over whether or not these helped America or just added to a problem.

http://katypundit.com/social/right-wing-news-ronald-reagan-father-of-the-tea-party/

http://www.slate.com/id/2102243/

The second website is an article written by Fred Kaplan in 2004, at a time where he was commenting frequently about the life of the late Ronald Reagan. Fred takes on a view that not only did Reagan help bring the fall of the Soviet Union but also helped add a second threat to the world stage, Bin Laden and the Taliban. It seemed that during the Soviets occupation of Afghanistan, Ronald Reagan’s administration was helping arm the Afghani Rebels known today as the Taliban. The article points out that Regan could have help Afghanistan become more of an independent nation if he had agreed with Gorbachev to stop funding the Rebels. However, according to the article, Regan refused, causing the Soviets to heighten their efforts, causing more unrest in Afghanistan after they pulled out which eventually led to a Taliban takeover by 1996. Initially Gorbachev wanted the Soviets to pull out in 1986 but said that he wanted to help the country get back to their feet and promised to leave within 18 months. If 10 years earlier Regan had taken the deal, Afghanistan might not have precluded to a Taliban takeover, and if the Soviets pulled out earlier, if Regan had embraced the withdrawal as he did that summer on the cutback of nuclear weapons the world might never have seen or heard of Osama Bin Laden.