Ronald Reagan, The Traitor

Marking what would have been former president Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, conservatives across the country are raising Mr. Reagan to demigod status while ignoring his past.  They have built up this myth that Saint Ronny was this great man, this great communicator, this destroyer of the Soviet Union, but they will never admit that he was a traitor.  I am not talking about Iran-Contra, for which even Christopher Hitchens believes he should have been impeached and removed from office.

No, Ronald Reagan was a traitor even before he sought political office.  During his time as the president of the Screen Actors Guild he was an FBI informant, ratting out fellow actors he thought were communists, had communist ties or leanings.  For this reason, I call Mr. Reagan a traitor.  He actively and fervently did the dirty work of Senator Joe McCarthy and the FBI.  He ruined the careers of scores of actors all because he was a rabid anti-communist.  He worked against the interests of his fellow union members, for whom he swore to represent, and the democratic values of our nation.

But conservatives are not just glossing over his traitorous past, they aren't even acknowledging it.  Even Mr. Hitchens wrote not a word in condemnation regarding Mr. Reagan's informing on his fellow actors in one of the darkest parts of America's short history.  A president gets a blow job from someone other than his wife while in the Oval Office and he vilified.  Yet a man rats out those he swore to represent to the FBI and Senator McCarthy and he is held up a demigod of conservative values.

Ronald Reagan is not a demigod.  He is a not saint.  He is not a hero of the American people.  He is a traitor, plain and simple.