Enemy of the People #2

David Barton,
Humbug Historian

Meet this self-styled expert who found success peddling a radical Snake Oil History of the nation customized for the Conservative and Evangelicals agenda.  Associates: Glenn Beck,  Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, the Republican National Committee.

Biographical information for David Barton is featued in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Files, a database of prominent extremists and extremist organizations. [Click Here]

Liberals of the Revolution

Conservatives believe they share with the Founding Fathers a faith based world view rooted in Christian values and morality. But it's not true.

The Constitution of the United States is the work of weathy, educated, and successful men whose enlightened belief in the unalienable Rights of all men was rooted in the emerging rationalist movement of the 18th-century. They would be villified today as elitist, athiestic, leftist eggheads.

Ironically and tragically, those most likely to enshrine the Constitution - Conservatives and
Evangelicals - are in total denial, preferring a self-serving Creation Myth over the factual
historic birth of the nation and, inevitably, a confused and misguided vision for America.

Ronald Reagan

One More Time for Slow Learners

The irony of the St. Reagan myth is the total ignorance of his current admirers who would never support a candidate with his actual track record:

The Economy:

• In 1982, Reagan agreed to restore a major portion of recent tax cuts. It was the largest tax increase in U.S. history.

• In 1983, Reagan raised the gasoline tax by five cents a gallon and instituted a payroll-tax hike that helped fund Medicare and Social Security.

• In 1984, Reagan eliminated tax loopholes worth $50 billion over three years.

• In 1986, Reagan supported the progressive Tax Reform Act, which hit businesses with a record-breaking $420 billion in new fees.

• During Reagan's two terms, federal employment grew by more than 60,000 (in contrast, government payrolls shrank by 373,000 during Clinton’s presidency).

• During Reagan's two terms, the gap between the amount of money the federal government took in and the amount it spent nearly tripled. The national debt soared from $700 billion to $3 trillion.

• During Reagan's two terms, and the United States was transformed from the world’s largest international creditor to its largest debtor.

• George H.W. Bush called Reagan's economic policy "voodoo economics" before he swore by them.

Social Issues:

• In 1967, Governor Reagan signed legislation in California that legalized millions of abortions.

• In 1978, Governor Reagan opposed California’s Proposition 6 ballot initiative, which would’ve barred gay men and women from working in public schools.

• In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act—a measure that granted amnesty to millions of aliens.

World View:

• Ronald Reagan falsely claimed that the Russian language had no word for "freedom."
(The word is "svoboda")

• Ronald Reagan claimed that intercontinental ballistic missiles could be recalled once launched.

• In the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan told Yitzhak Shamir and Simon Wiesenthal, on two separate occasions, that he himself had assisted personally at the liberation of the Nazi
death camps.

• Reagan announced that apartheid South Africa had "stood beside us in every war we've ever fought," but the South African leadership supported Hitler during World War II.

• Ronald Reagan alarmed his Soviet counterparts by stating that they would stand united against an invasion from Mars.

Summary:

I am reminded of two quotations from the Great Communicator:

"Facts are stupid things."  Keep this in mind and take a good look at Reagan's time in office.

"Trust, but verify." Excellent advise.

[source: do your homework]