reply to post by BomSquad
Thank you squad. I still tend towards the sarcastic when wisdom and Reagan are used in the same sentence.
Reagan had a way of seeming to be a regular guy, an Everyman when he stood before us. His ah shucks appearance of friendliness could charm vast
numbers of folk into believing the corporately dictated propaganda that was written for him to speak on a daily basis.
He could seem to be "Joe" with a long stem of alfalfa hanging from his mouth, sitting at a pickle barrel discussing that weeks hog reports and
within minutes, reach into the hearts and minds of his listeners have them wrapped in a cosmetic haze of patriotic fervor. He was the corporate shill
man par excellence.
Of course his words sounded wise. They were written from boiled down ideological positions known to appeal to certain types of gullible people in very
similar ways to the boiled down ideological positions written for Obama's speeches.
A century earlier, there had been a populist uprising against the tycoons and robber barrons, the descendants of which today are known as the elite
and the powers that be. Some of their mega-monopolies were dismantled and restrictions were placed on their ability to accumulate even vaster amounts
of wealth. The control of the nations economy these tycoons had was stymied for a while and they did not like it. The nation had turned decidedly anti
big business. This had to change for the richer to get even richer.
Through the economic crashes and world wars those who pushed the corporate agenda took a back seat and wore the friendly smile of the chamber of
commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. For decades they constantly tried to break down the publics abhorrence to concentrated wealth
in the hands of the rich and the control it could have over society.
But they never gave up. They developed advertising to promote consumerism, the planting of the idea of "want fulfillment " instead of just needs.
Radio came along and friendly voices made neighborly suggestions on how to live more happily if we just buy their product. And the public softened.
Those friendly voices were joined by friendly and neighborly faces with the coming of television. By the sixties the major networks were owned by
major corporations and the war to turn the American public into faithful consumers, trusting in the wisdom and foresight of big business, hit it's
stride. All it needed was a face. A voice. A character. And bingo, there he was.
A handsome actor. An already proven shill for cleaning detergent. Who better to promote the cleaning up of America. Who better to be the public smile
as the restrictions and regulations that we the people had helped to place on the monopolists and the plutocrats were discarded one after another
paving the way for unprecedented accumulations of wealth in the hands of the few.
Behind Reagan were those who took the stopper out of Pandora's bottle. He chanted from memory the American Dream and said this is how we do it. This
and this and this. And America believed. and opened the door of the cage loosing the corporate hounds of hell.
Reagan was the consummate lying machine. Not that he lied. But rather that he did not have mental capacity to understand the lies he was given to
promote. He just smiled and recited his lines as only an accomplished actor can.