Stateside with Rosalea: Ronnie Goes To Washington

You have to wonder about those folks at Aunty Beeb. There I was in my lunch break at a computer class in San Francisco on Saturday, surfing the web, and I happened upon the news.bbc.co.uk website ticker saying that Ronald Reagan had died.

Immediately, I went to the Reuters and AP websites but they still had the old story about the president's health having deteriorated. In fact, it was several minutes before they had the story of his demise online. I don't get the feeds that journalists get, so the public websites I was looking at were probably just waiting for the stories to be written and posted.

Another surprising thing was that when I exclaimed to my classmates, "Ronald Reagan's dead," they looked at me with as much interest as if I'd told them that potatoes grow under the ground. Admittedly, they're all too young to have known him as president, let alone governor of the State of California.

And what a jolly governor he was. He signed into law some very liberal legislation to do with abortions, no-fault divorces, and legal aid, yet is being remembered for Reaganomics and having brought about the disintegration of the USSR and the end of the Cold War.

Well, the later wasn't such a good idea as it turned out because it allowed terrorist organizations to flourish and ultimately led to the attacks we see around the world today as countries formerly ruled or supported financially and militarily by Moscow struggle to have viable economies.

But, after writing what I did last week about how the world we live in today spawns anxiety and depression, how can I possibly find a churlish word to say about someone who wanted to be remembered thusly:

“Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.”

To find out what all the pomp and circumstance of the following days will mean, you should go to the website of the military unit that will be organising it, and click on the photo of Ronald Reagan: http://www.mdw.army.mil/

I especially recommend the section on military honors.

ENDS

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