George W.
Bush High School?
Look at Reagan
By Daniel Muniz

A reader had once asked John Hawkins of Right Wing News for his
opinion about George W. Bush’s dismal approval ratings. Hawkins
assured his readers that some day your children will attend a George
W. Bush high school. Seeing how the media and popular culture depict
the president, such a claim may indeed seem outlandish but only if
you do not put history into context and into its proper perspective.

When
I was a teenager during the entire Reagan administration I
vividly remembered the incendiary inflammatory diatribes hurled
against the president. Popular culture created malicious caricatures
of Reagan that were not unlike the ones about George W. Bush that we
commonly see today. And at the time where I was living at, Texas was
not yet the solid Republican state as it is today, thus it was not
uncommon for certain center-right voters to rile against the Gipper.

During my teenage days, I felt (along with the media and the rest of the
popular culture) that it was absolutely insane and downright
dangerous for Reagan to not only be too confrontational with the
Soviet Union but to also be so provocative with them during his
massive
defense buildup. I had read quite a bit of literature that was
popular at the time, such as the
“Nuclear Winter” and I had seen the “The Day After” (for young people of
today that was a movie, not a pill) and Amerika.

Nuclear war with the Russians may seem so antiquated in the
millennium but back in the eighties (as it was in the decades
before), that was quite a possibility during the Cold War. And it
was natural for many people (myself included) to want to avoid our
own annihilation although others simply wished it away with naïve
peace plans.

Reagan was different.

Not only did he boldly seek to confront the Soviet Union, but he
also sought to defeat them. Even among Republicans, very few people
at the time really thought that the Cold War was actually winnable
by the United States as evidenced by the failures of administration
after administration.

The thought of provoking the Soviets terrified liberals and the
media amplified much of that hysteria throughout the airwaves. The
press immortalized Reagan’s famous depiction of the USSR as “The
Evil Empire.” The media incessantly trashed and pummeled him for
that comment. And Hollywood caricatured him as either a warmonger or
as being stupid and out of touch with reality, which is not much
different than how the left wing today paints George W. Bush.

After his presidency, the Soviet Union did collapse. The USSR
disintegrated and a slew of new nations embarked on their own
destinies. Communism itself also failed and it was no longer
touted as a way of life that we must co-exist alongside with.

Today, Reagan’s other famous phrase has been immortalized:

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

It has taken history quite a bit of time to catch up with the
enormous ramifications of the ending of the Cold War. During the
Clinton administration, Reagan was still looked upon unkindly with
scorn and ridicule. It wasn’t until his passing that even many left
wing politicians began to grudgingly admit to his role in defeating
communism and bringing down the Soviet Union. And as more of the
fruits of his legacy come to light, the more history will begin to
take a “kinder gentler” approach at his contributions and
endeavors.

Overall, the media was wrong. Hollywood was wrong. I was wrong. And
so were quite a few others who were wrong about Reagan and his
vision to put an end to communism and the Red threat.

But now I foresee that the same thing will happen to George W. Bush
although perhaps not in his lifetime.

Much like Reagan and communism, George W. Bush believes that Islamic terrorists
can and will be defeated. It has already happened in Afghanistan and
it is happening in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the left wing, the press, and Hollywood will continue
to scorn Bush, but some day history will look back and realize that
a major terrorist network has been dismantled and its remnants
scattered throughout the world. History will then see electoral
democracies flourishing not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in
Lebanon, Egypt, and in much of the Middle East.

America’s Bad
Image
Can We Really Improve It?
By Daniel Muniz

According to many polls, much of the world’s population doesn’t
think very highly of the United States including many longtime
allies. Consequently, there are always plenty of national political figures of both
parties who want to polish up this country’s image to the world,
although it is usually done in connection with a campaign promise.

And in every presidential election cycle, there are candidates who
want to pursue this worthless crusade.

But the fatal flaw to this endeavor is that it may not be in
America’s best interest to devote excessive time, money, and
resources to clean up our global reputation because the harsh
reality is that it is not possible to achieve that objective. All
what this rhetoric really accomplishes is to provide good media buzz
during an election season or to raise a political profile. Here are
some of the insurmountable obstacles:

Economics
There are over four billion people who live in countries that are
economically worse off than Mexico. To no surprise, their viewpoint of
what America needs do to clean up its act, especially among the
poor, is far beyond than what this country is capable of doing. To
be frank, much of the world feels that the United States should be
Santa Claus by redistributing its wealth to them even though many
countries are already the recipient of our foreign aid packages.

Of course socialist European nations would very much like to see the
United Sates embrace socialism because they feel that the free
market is the source of the world’s problems. Ironically, there has
been quite a role reversal now that France is considered to be one
of the most socialist oriented countries in the world while China
has become the most free market nation on the planet. Times have
definitely changed over the past several decades.

But what is most tragic about wealth is that the countries that
should already be doing exceedingly well in economic growth are
still mired in abject poverty even though they fully adhere to the
principles of socialism and the racism of Yankee (or gringo) Go
Home. There are many nations that have been blessed with abundant
natural resources like oil such as Mexico, Nigeria, Angola, and
Venezuela. Yet, instead of booming economies their populations are
still bitterly impoverished and their futures are grim.

Global Literacy
Much of the world is illiterate. That may sound like a horrible
assessment but illiteracy greatly limits the ability of critical
thinking and it very much restricts the capacity to obtain credible
news and accurate information about current events and about the
world itself. Inevitably, this leads to ignorance which can easily
by exploited by numerous foreign leaders, political parties, and
radical religious groups. Much of the world hates America but they
really don’t understand the reasons why or are even aware of the
facts other than the perception that we are a bad country.

Ignorance
Ignorance exists even among our allies in Europe and it is
increasingly widespread. Polls reveal that large segments of
Europeans, especially among the youth, believe in all kinds of half-baked
conspiracy theories about America, such as George W. Bush plotting
the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. In
fact, conspiracies about the United States thrive all around the
world and they take on mythic proportions.

Political Correctness
Europe stands in the vanguard of forsaking its own rich heritage and
history along with its common sense and reason because of political
correctness. In fact, everyone can heap the world’s problems on
America while cheerfully embracing their own double standards and
hypocrisy. For example, racism only exists in America while many
countries blatantly practice it on a daily basis. Only Americans
hate illegal aliens while much of the world maintains harsh policies
against illegal immigration. This list of hypocrisy can go on
forever.

American Media
Much of the information that the world gets about the United States
comes directly from our press like the New York Times, The Washington
Post, etc. And since many of these news organizations are blatantly
left wing, they present a much distorted and unbalanced view of
America. Unfortunately, foreign media sources rely on these liberal
news wires.

Force Projection
Perhaps nothing is more alarming than a mighty country having the
ability to insert itself anywhere in the world for an indefinite
period of time. People are rightfully concerned about the rise of
China’s military but they will not have the capabilities of force
projection for at least another 30 years. Sure, China can support
regional conflicts but they cannot impose their will anywhere they
choose.

In all truthfulness, this is a legitimate fear because the United
States does have the most powerful military on the planet and its
capabilities are enormous. Although we can articulate our foreign
policy agenda, our intentions are subject to manipulation due to
ignorance and political correctness.