FDR's "accomplishments" are not as wonderful as Mate would have us believe. The New Deal, which Mate indirectly claimed ended the Great Depression did nothing but create numerous and largely useless social programs. Among other things these programs made it more difficult for businesses to raise capital. To fund these counterproductive programs, FDR increased the federal tax revenue from $1.6 billion in 1933 to $5.3 billion in 1940. That is one year before the United States entered the war that Mate claims FDR won. The war, however, was really won by George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Chester Nimitz, George Patton and the brave men who fought for them. If FDR was such a great president, Congress wouldn't have passed the 22nd Amendment, incidentally causing President Bill Clinton such anguish years later.
It seems silly to call President Gerald Ford a quietist, as he easily beats Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy, and every other recent president with the highest average number of vetoes per year.
No one suggested replacing JFK on the half dollar with President Ronald Reagan, but since Mate insists on comparing them, let's do it fairly. Mate claims JFK prevented nuclear war. This is an obvious allusion to the Cuban Missile Crisis in which JFK more or less closed his eyes and prayed nothing would happen. Contrast this with Reagan's anti-Soviet efforts. Reagan's conservative tax policies allowed for lower individual taxes, but higher tax revenues, allowing the US military to expand. This forced the Soviets to expand their military, but they couldn't keep up economically. Thus, Reagan's policies eventually ended the Cold War.
Reagan and JFK's relative courage in the face of the Reds is displayed best by their speeches at the Berlin Wall. At the time it was built, Kennedy could easily have ordered it destroyed, but instead, he allowed it to divide Berlin. Then he spoke to the people he refused to help, claiming to understand their plight. Reagan stood in Berlin after calling the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire" and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" After a gesture like that, I don't see how Mate can claim that Reagan didn't fight for democracy.
In his most inflammatory attack, Mate accuses Reagan of being in some way uncompassionate to people with AIDS. Despite lies in the recent Showtime movie about his life, Reagan never said, "Those who live in sin shall die in sin," in reference to AIDS victims. However, Reagan did see to it that the movement to bar people with AIDS from certain jobs was stifled and also increased spending on AIDS research by nearly 100 percent in each year from 1982 to 1989. This shows that Reagan worked to help those with AIDS, but even if he hadn't, it is still abhorrent to suggest renaming AIDS "Reagan."
The last thing I want to address is Mate's disgusting comment about the Reagan Monument. Mate had the audacity to use the phrase "when Reagan finally dies." Wishing the death of any person, much less a former President, is deplorably wicked. I am shocked. I can only hope the next Viewpoints editor has more class.
Uhrich is a freshman economics major.