An odd thing to add to the article.

And what about pushing the smoking age to 21? Who is the driving force behind THAT?

I think it was the first time that a story (hypnotizing as it was) that was a one-shot, of genuine import to a family in a town.. became a national obsession. The outcome would only impact very few people personally, yet every heartstring in the country was slammed.

Lots to blame on him. This? I don't get it.

It says Reagan's silent inaction about AIDS was Reagan's fault because it was.

was an American cave explorer in central Kentucky

"The reports about efforts to save Collins became a nationwide newspaper sensation and among the first major news stories to become a sensation on the new technology of broadcast radio. The rescue attempt grew to become the third-biggest media event between the world wars."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins

Smoking age is a matter for States, and it's just one State that has it set at 21. I understand it's hard for conservative Democrats to face the brutal truth about St Ronnie but this piece is very excellent.

We have stopped moving forward, often move backward and that's not healthy nor desirable.

Lots of things to pin on Reagan. Jessica McClure? I fail to see how he had anything to do with that, and I'm curious why it was included.

Intellectual honesty means getting your facts straight, and not piling on ridiculous accusations. When you do, your overall message gets diluted.

To be less generous, it is you who is being intellectually dishonest. It's one or the other.

Quoting:

Last week my 16-year-old son and I were talking about my exploits as a teenager. My son said, “Dad, things were so less uptight when you were a kid. What happened?” My initial response to him was: “Ronald Reagan.”

"Since then, I have given this a lot of thought. And while I do stand by my original answer of Ronald Reagan, there is actually so much more to it."

He then restates the Reagan case and proceeds to name some of the 'so much more to it' just as changes in national media, that along with Reagan caused a chilling of American spirit.

It's the entire conceit and premise of the article my friend, 'I told my kid Reagan and I was right but there was more to it....'

It's very simple reading. It's about Reagan AND so much more which damped the vibrancy of American life. It's not about how Reagan is to blame for this list of things.

The well was in her aunt's backyard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_McClure

If you want to think about how parents' ideas of what's safe for their children to do in public has changed, an accident in private to a girl barely a toddler is not relevant. It smacks of the writer looking up 80s news on Google.

snake-oil salesmen for votes, stupidity became the order of the day

We go to church more than other countries like us, believe magic shit more...and sin more.

Well said but it could get worse - you could be in Jamaica. At last check we had the most churches on the planet per sq.mile. Most folks are just praying not to get caught for said sins and the rest of anti-social behavior.

In Jamaica - lovely country, lovely people..don't get me wrong - the average number of years of school in the adult population is 5.3

We should be doing better. A lot better.

The figure I used was 2000.
http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/profiles/Jamaica/Education

Tell folks in the LGBTQ community that folks are more uptight now than they were then in the 70s/80s). In 2012 even President Obama claimed to be unsupportive of gay marriage.

There are countless other examples that indicate that Americans are less uptight now than they were back in the "old days".

The article cited in the OP actually says this: "While some things have gotten better in the U.S. (LGBT rights, for example), we have gone backward on others—like voting rights." The author is correct about that. He's also correct that the national inaction and subsequent bigoted and fear based reaction to the AIDS crisis under Ronald Reagan was a toxin to our society, a death sentence to tens of thousands and a factor in the growing isolation and ennui of American life. I understand many on DU want to revise and dismiss these facts but that's not acceptable. The facts are the facts.

The world has changed in many, many ways. And it's not as creative and vibrant as it should be, as it was or as it could be. It's good to talk about the reasons for this.

than they were then.

The author just doesn't know what he is talking about. It comes across like someone is typing just to type.

While I was living in Jersey, the drinking age went to 19. I was grandfathered in. It was 1977. Carter's first year in office.

When I went to Delaware in '79, the drinking age was raised to 21. I was grandfathered in. Kids drove across the MD border to pick up booze from a large liquor store 50 feet from the border and miles from the nearest group of houses. The first time I drove to DE from MD on that route I was surprised it was there, miles outside the nearest town. The second time, I realized why it was there, less than a minute at a slow walk from the state border.

I finished my BA the month Reagan was inaugurated. By then, the drinking age in Oregon, Maryland, Delaware, and Jersey were all 21.

In some outbacks the drinking age didn't increase until the feds forced the issue. By then many states had already increased the drinking age. The trend started and blossomed under Carter.

I didn't start drinking until the Reagan administration and I was over 21.

The drinking age was pretty much 21 for most Americans until, the early 1970s.

The Republicans like to tell people they can't have sex. The Democrats like to tell people they can't smoke, drink, or eat bad food. It's one thing to inform people, but both parties seem to get some sick satisfaction out of shaming people that don't do what they tell them to do.

set foot on the continent.
No wonder Europe rejected them.

Before the DUI it was the DWI (driving while intoxicated). They changed that standard to driving under the influence so that they could stop people from driving before they reached the point of trashed and killed themselves andor others. Pissed a lot of people off, but also has probably saved a lot of lives.
The drinking age is about social groups. It's easier for a 13 yr old to get an 18 yr old to buy liquor for them than to travel further out of their peer group and ask a 21 yr old. It's easy enough for adolescents to steal it from parents, giving them another source is not helpful. Particularly in a culture of overconsumption where people routinely drink to get as drunk as possible.

mother nevertheless allowed me out on my own to see friends and go to the public library etc. by the time I was seven. I even wore a (real not simulated) birthstone ring that whole time and was not mugged for it. Nowadays if parents let children to go from point a to point b by themselves they get reported or someone calls 911 about abandoned children.

my neighborhood. We also have occasional wildlife sightings in my area as well. Funny story, while we were living in another city in a suburb but still lots of trees I woke up extra early one morning. We were out of milk and wanted to go to the store before the children go up. I opened my door and I saw a black bear walking down my street. It scampered off as soon as it saw me, but that was such a bizarre site for me. I didn't let my daughter start going out on her own until she was in middle school and then she had to have at least one friend with her. My son is autistic so I was even more protective of him. I don't call 911 when I see a small child walking alone but I do worry for them. Small children don't have the strength to fight off attackers.

there were no bears much less many unsavory human adults. Not saying it didn't happen then (lurings not bears) but - when I in recent months saw an online article about concern expressed because children were out walking around on their own - given my background I had to wonder if it wasn't an overreaction. Maybe it wasn't.

he did incredible damage to America

nt