[Opinion]

“Don’t forget that we are a nation that put an actor on stage as a leader.”

Adaptation by Reviewer Rob
Reagan photo by Chase Lisbon

Many years ago when I was 20 years old and still in my formative years here in San Diego the first time I voted it was for Ronald Reagan for President. That was a lifetime ago and while that may seem the pinnacle of political uncoolness among the liberal crowd I call my homies today back then it was really the only choice. It was either Reagan and Bush or Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and that choice wasn’t what the Cold War seemed to need when the Soviets were ramping up aggressiveness in the last stages of their empire threats before going into the death throes of the Iron Curtain’s demise in 1989, and NO ONE saw THAT coming. Besides, Reagan wasn’t really anything like today’s Republicans who claim him as the spiritual father of their movement. The Tea Party never likes to mention that Reagan both raised taxes and gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants. San Diego, the mythology goes, was said by Reagan to be his “lucky town” (Nixon called it his “lucky city”) and to this day while it’s becoming more Democratic in its electorate the political power structure at city hall is still conservative, unlike its two other largest Californian urban centers (Los Angeles and San Francisco, not Orange County and Santa Barbara). Despite being ranked about number 8 among the 10 largest cities in America San Diego still feels like a small town in a lot of ways, and it still loves Ronald Reagan. That’s why I got a small laugh from this post I saw today. Below is the text and an image I borrowed from the social media page of Chase Lisbon. ~Editor

“If you really want to understand America, you have to get away from the coastal cities. America has the mind of many different nations. This picture was from Branson, Missouri, and it says more to me about the Midwest than almost anything else. Don’t forget that we are a nation that put an actor on stage as a leader.”

White Reagan by Chase Lisbon.
White Reagan by Chase Lisbon.

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