When I was in high school, Ronald Reagan was elected president. I hadn't paid superclose attention to politics before that (though I did pay more attention than most kids my age).
By the time I got into college, Reaganomics was in full hellish swing. I can honestly say I didn't know even one family that hadn't had work layoffs fall into their home firsthand.
By my Freshman year in college Christmas was the last thing people could afford. To say it was a difficult time would be really sugarcoating it. I'm pretty sure that was the year that my gift to my parents was a letter telling them about how I remembered all of the really great Christmases we'd had before the government stepped in and ended union mining as anyone had known it to be.
Lots of people had been out of work so long that their unemployment ran out. If someone mentioned wanting some handyman work done, twenty people would be there before the day was out begging to make that little bit of money. There were very few employment ads in the newspaper. There were articles about hundreds of people showing up to apply for dishwasher positions. The bustling shopping on Capitol Street (which had meant Christmas to most folks anywhere near the Kanawha Valley) dried up. Shops were closing. Stores were laying off. Hell, we knew people who had killed themselves because there was no hope of ever getting work that would enable them to stay in the home town they'd been in their entire lives.
It was as dark a Christmastime as I can remember. And, it was one where no Christmas magic would happen. As midnight on Christmas Eve approached and Mom and I were still sitting up because there was no yippee-let's-look-forward-to-THIS moment coming in the morning.
And, lo, from yon TV in the corner then a light did shine. Twas a beacon from the Oak Hill station. It was only two colors: black and white, yet it showed that some wise human had seen that particular holiday season in a clearer light than had the rest of us. It was a midnight Christmas Eve showing of George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead." (Mind you this was back in the days when cable meant you had ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, WGN, WTBS, and HBO.)
Mom and I perked up and watched a world that was far worse off, far more hopeless than ours. We watched the hero survive against all odds only to be shot in the end and knew it to be true. But, more than that, we knew that someone out there, someone who had programming access to the Oak Hill television station had seen the Christmas we were all having and decided it was time to stop shoving wonderful, shiny, jingling, and miraculous tales of a magical day when all wrongs can be righted. Instead, they gave us catharsis. It was the best bleak Christmas ever.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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33 comments:
i love this post. cheers to reagonomics being over!
Excellent post. I remember those times very well.
By the way, you could subtitle this post: "The Year Shirley Love Saved Christmas."
I loved "Night of the Living Dead", what a great Christmas movie... Hmmmm I think I will start a Christmas tradition this year...
That is one of Mr.Man's all time favorite movies.
He quotes from that movie all the time...
"Don't you know what's goin' on out there? This is no Sunday School picnic!"
very sad post. I remember my senior year in high school, my teacher telling some young reaganite douchbag that Reagan didn't want the middle class to be educated or go to college because corporations wouldn't have to pay people as much and the US could have a population making slave wages like in the third world. I was home from school clapping the day Reagan got shot. ever read, "what's the matter with kansas?" it's just like WV all the jobs are gone and towns are boarded up but the people still vote for the GOP. this country is fucked up.
"Barbara, they're coming to get you, Barbara."
Tequila, Thank you and Yes! I still hate him, even after Alzheimers, even after death.
Film Geek, LMAO! A friend once took me to that cemetery in Pittsburgh. Really neat, but really recognizable, so there was some vandalism from young drunks.
You know, Ron, I'm thinking of reinstating the tradition here.
Goddess, It's a great movie. Really, it works for any holiday. :)
Ted, Surely to goodness a greater portion of people have learned their lessons than haven't. After the last election I seriously talked to my husband about us moving to Ireland. He was having none of that. He said, "We survived eight years of Reagan. How much worse than that could it get?"
Famous last words, my friend.
Oh, and Ted, I've heard of the book. It seems like there's a pretty serious disconnect where people in this country believe their lives are one way, when in fact they're another. (People who think they're Middle Income, but are really Upper Lower Income, for example).
What I hate is the "god" the republicans have made of him?
Didn't they live the '80s?
And haven't they ever seen him act?
I wouldn't have hired him for anything.
Ah yes, Ronny and "Tinkle-Dow... I mean "Trickle Down" Economics.
I'll bet it's plenty warm where Ronny is now.
Great story!
The sad thing is, it never got better. Between the immense unemployment and the methamphetimine culture, life in Southern West Virginia is becoming extinct.
ON a bigger picture, I didn't think it could get much worse than it was during Reagan as they wratchetted up the debt and rattled their sabres. Wow, did they outdo themselves the past decade or what?!
One of two things will happen. We will become a huge poverty tricken third world nation by 2050 that the Europeans and the Asians will be left to deal with, or we will slowly be absorbed by a world order that will control commerce and government and our suffering will be slightly less.
BWAAAAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!
"The year Shirley Love saved Christmas!"
By giving out combs?
I remember those years--they were terrible for WV.
C.rag, you're a woman after my own heart there.
Colonel, we used to have a counter saying about what trickled down: "And when the sewer's full the shit starts to back right back up toward the top, now doesn't it?"
SagH, the meth-heads and pillheads are so bad now that when we tried to call a cousin last Christmas we got a funny message. Some bastard had cut down their phone lines to steal the copper. Merry Christmas!
Okay, I'm missing something on Shirley Love. Splain please.
Welcome El Cabrero! I'm always surprised when someone says they remember because so many people now seem to think Reagan was just grand. I, will never be one of them.
Shirley Love (a man) is a current state legislator. But for many, many years he was the anchor and TV personality at the Oak Hill TV station, WOAY.
http://members.aol.com/jeff570/woay.html
For years, he also hosted a great pro wrestling show on WOAY that came on Friday or Saturday nights, after the news. It rocked, mostly because he interviewed locals on it.
Film geek, do you remember what he gave to every local he interviewed at ringside?
SL: What's your name kid?
Kid: Billy Ray Blaylock
SL: Where ya from?
Kid: 8 Pole Creek
SL: Here, have a comb.
SL: Next
Fucking classic local TV gold.
Ronald Reagan was, perhaps, the greatest President to ever serve during my lifetime. Trickle down economics did, in fact, work. Talk to an economist sometime. No matter what side of the political isle they're on, they will have to admit it is true. The fact remains that a sitting President is rarely responsible for the total state of the economy. Markets rise and fall independently due to many worldwide social and economic factors, and they are mostly self correcting. Presidents who enact broad fiscal policies can sometimes boost or hinder the international market to a small degree, but market forces being what they are, maintain a life of their own. Reagan's tax cuts were among these type of fiscal legislation that, after some time, did make a positive difference in the US economy. Sure, we were all in the same boat in the 70s, but our economy was heading in that direction well before Reagan enacted any of his own policies. I find it funny that the very same people who want to pin the blame for a faltering US economy on Reagan during his administration, conveniently choose to forget the Carter years (which were just dismal, yet not entirely his fault). Yeah, I hated Reagan too, back in the day, but it was primarily due to my pseudo-punk-rock-contrarian-for-the-sake-of-being-contrarian Leftist posturing combined with a general lack of historic perspective, resulting in the same type of uninformed bumpersticker sloganeering seen in this comment section. I got educated. Turns out Reagan wasn't the great Satan after all. I availed myself to the facts while many of my friends preferred to stay in the dark so they wouldn't have to admit that they were dead wrong for so long. Those of you who aren't afraid of facts can read more about Reagan's economic policy here:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22108
Bush's tax cuts have had the same success and, whether you believe the mainstream media's hopeful reports of an oncoming recession and rampant stagflation, the FACT remains that the last five years, the US economy has experienced an unprecedented rate of growth, with tax cuts being the main culprit, and tax receipts have experienced the biggest jump in this nation's history. Granted, all that extra tax revenue has been neutralized by Bush's uncontrolled spending like a drunken porkbarrel Democrat, but it is what it is.
The facts are there. Believe me, folks, the world economy extends far beyond "my uncle couldn't find a job in the 70s" rhetoric. Try to look beyond your preconceived biases sometimes. No, Reagan wasn't a "God" by any stretch of the imagination, but history will reflect that he was one of the finest political minds of our era, and quite probably the last great leader this nation had.
And Mr. Velvet, I wasn't too awfully fond of President Clinton, either, but I would have never, in any good conscience, celebrate had he, or any of our other Presidents past or present, been shot. You sound like a real classy guy.
- The Evil Twin
Yeah, Sag, and it was classic local TV. Must see local TV even. I miss that kind of stuff.
Oh isn't this guy a winner. A Reagan and Bush II cheer leader.
Of course the idea that "trikle down" economics did anything but put more and more money into the pockets of the mega rich is just bullshit. Same with the Bush the Chimp tax cuts.
Ya know, my "family values," my ethical standards and my morality wouldn't let me sleep at night if I posted something like that (even if I did rip it from some right wing propaganda page). I like humanity and believe that the well being and good of the people. . . all the people, should be the first priority of our government. This corporate servitude bullshit has GOT to stop.
Sadly, the right wing has a way of convincing the proletariat class that their corporate agenda serves the people. Orwell was very correct in his predictions. It's nothing but double speak and this guy swallowed it all.
Justice is Reagan walking around in diapers crying for "mommy" the last years of his life while Jimmy Carter still remains a fully functional icon of humanity and our goodness.
Those damnable facts! It's all a Karl Rove conspiracy to rewrite history, I tell ya!
Ahh, good ol' Liberal tolerance and respect for a different point of view...
There's nothing more offensive to most Liberals than a lifelong Liberal turned Conservative. Knowing the Left's mindset as intimately as I do, my filter doesn't have to be cleaned very often. Believe me pal, you've never been as far Left as I've been in my day, and you'll most likely never get as far right, if your platitudes speak for your worldview. I'm an Agnostic, pro-Marijuana Legalization, Buckley Conservative, but you can just just call me "another one a them durned Neocons." I know how offended some on the Left get when they happen to cross paths with someone who doesn't think exactly like they do. I'm used to it, so I try not to take offense. Nonetheless, I wish you nothing but the best in the future and a Merry Christmas!
- The Evil Twin
Welcome Evil Twin.
While I'm going to let that the back-handed slight of lumping my personal (and very true) story of the joys of a Night of the Living Dead Christmas to "my uncle couldn't find a job in the 70s rhetoric" slide just this once, I do want to point you to a much better source for your Reagan argument than the one you cited.
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Reaganomics.html
It's from "Reaganomics" article from The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. The gentleman who wrote it was on Reagan's Economic Advisory Council. You will see there and honestly objective point of view where he stick strictly to economic facts. Reaganomics was not the glowing success a conservative source might lead you to believe. Nor was it the abysmal end of all days that some liberal sources might likewise spread.
My personal view on Reagan is based on both research and personal experience. When it comes to politics, I exercise my right to choose my way. I also do not try to force anyone to believe the way I do simply because I'm convinced I'm right.
I understand why Reagan is so popular, but I'd rather peel the outer layer of my eyeball off with a spork than go into it here.
It's basically the same reason that Clinton was popular.
Bush, if poll numbers are to be believed, is no longer popular, but he will be again. That's just the way these things spin.
On both sides.
I don't toe anyone's party line because of it either. I truly studied rhetoric and the not-so-fine art of politics. It's all bullshit. All of it. And no amount of revisiting history to see how the old numbers hold up over time is ever going to convince me to see Reagan and his legacy any differently than I have already come to through my own research and life.
Just because I disagree with you on this point does not mean that I haven't researched a thing. I'm a bit put off by the insinuation that I hadn't.
Oh, and from that article:
"Reagan endorsed the reduction in money growth initiated by the Federal Reserve in late 1979, a policy that led to both the severe 1982 recession and a large reduction in inflation and interest rates."
You see that "severe 1982 recession" part? That explains why money and Christmas were so shit in 1982 (my freshman year at WVU and the year of the Night of the Living Dead Christmas Eve).
So, no, I'm not misremembering the facts of that year because some 'liberal media' has brainwashed me into doing so. I'm remembering facts.
On a good note about Reagan: That goverment cheese made the best fudge. :)
My original comments weren't made in order to sully your memories; but to address the Reagan pile-on of the comments section. Don't know why I feel complelled to defend Ronnie, especially in a Liberal echo chamber, but the comments reflected a severe misunderstanding of the man. There's a very good reason you've never seen one of my comments in your comment section - the very same reason that this will be the last. Yet, I still stand by everything I stated in my original comments. Personally, I couldn't care less whether anyone agrees with me, even though I'm entirely convinced I'm right - would you infer otherwise? While you and I were in different places in 1982, we weren't that damned far apart - we certainly remember things differently, as far as that recessive period is concerned. Just as many of my family were out of work as were yours; they lived practically on top of each other; but just as many still had their jobs. My memories of the latter part of the Carter era are among the worst economic times I can remember. So no, I'm not inferring that you haven't done your research, but I am stating for the record that you're clearly wrong about Reagan, factually speaking. You should thank whatever enitity you hold holy that he was the "sabre rattler" that you considered him to be, because the complexion of the world's power structure would be MUCH different today, had he not been. Anyway, my apologies to you all for the intrusion. I should have kept my mouth shut. It's a general policy of mine to not discuss politics with friends (since nearly all of them are hardcore Liberals), but I just couldn't let some of the bitter, needlessly hateful comments slide, so they really weren't directed at you, but to some of your, er... "classier" commenters. Besides, it's always healthy to let others know there's a different point of view out there. I'm just one dissenting voice - pretend I didn't happen.
- The Evil Twin
Oh, and one last thing before I sign off:
"Reagan endorsed the reduction in money growth initiated by the Federal Reserve in late 1979, a policy that led to both the severe 1982 recession and a large reduction in inflation and interest rates."
So, this quote states that his policies led to a reduction of inflation and interest rates while simultaneously being directly responsible for the recession? Those two things don't go together. His tax cuts weren't much different from the very same ones enacted by JFK - the great Liberal icon - many years before. This is quite a contrast to the piece I read in WSJ 4 or 5 years ago where Greenspan himself admitted that the ultimate yield of Reagan's fiscal policy had never been given it's proper due. I'll take his word for it.
- The Evil Twin
Didn't the typical government response to recession used to be slashing interest rates in order to get people to buy more big-ticket items, and therefore reduce inflation?
I'm not an economist. The one and only Econ class that I had to take was so excruciatingly dull I would have needed to take a pocket vibrator to class just to stay awake.
Like you and I have said many times before, Reagan, Bush, and hardcore conservatism are things we'll always disagree on. I'm glad we have just about everything else in the world in common so we can get past that.
Oh, and when it comes to Greenspan on Reagan, I don't listen much at all since Greenspan married Andrea Mitchell and never did a more zealous Reagan cheerleader with a journalist's microphone exist than her.
Buzz, You're wasting your time trying to convince one of the Reagan worshippers that he was anything but a saint.
You know and I know and history knows that what Reagan did put this country on a path of destruction. Just the union busting alone has had a devastating effect on the middle class and turned us into a service economy.
It's not about differing points of view, it's about fact vs. fiction.
I don't argue with those who believe in creationism either.
There's not much difference between a creationist and a neo-con prole. . . in fact, they're usually one and the same.
Oh, and anonymous, don't try and out liberal me from your right wing fantasy land position, "pal."
Trying to convince us of the savior status of Reagan and then declaring how far left you are/have been/ whatever is a bit moronic, don't you think, "pal?"
Sag,
Have you ever been a member of the RCPUSA? Okay. Then I HAVE "out-liberaled" you, you fucking cementhead. Buzzardbilly can attest to my background, because she's known me most of my life. I believe this is the point in the conversation where I now tell you to "shut the fuck up."
pwned.
-The Evil Twin
Well there ya go.
I defer to your superior intellect.
It's all your's bubba. Be proud.
Yes! That's what I needed to get over this godforesaken day. Well played, gentlemen.
I love net spats. Sometimes I go to the Hank III cussin' boards because those folks are brutal. No-holds-barred unmodded free-for-all.
Ms. Buzz, I tried not to let it get ugly. I apologize for any of that on my part.
"Hank III cussin board?"
Maybe you've got a link? Sounds like fun.
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