Reagan’s State of Union Message
It is uncanny how Reagan evokes the prophetic words and deeds of other presidents.
Franklin Roosevelt counseled that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Reagan, in turn, warns repeatedly that we have nothing to fear but the U.S.S.R.
Dwight Eisenhower cautioned us to beware of our rapacious military-industrial complex. Reagan instead abides complete faith and U.S. resources to military hardware of every description.
Finally, Lyndon Johnson, proponent of both guns and butter, neglected to finance our military buildup for the Vietnam War. The consequence: devastating inflation. Now Reagan emulates Johnson by neglecting to finance his massive and indiscriminate military buildup. Consequence to date: national debt doubled; huge routine federal deficits; a Frankenstein Gramm-Rudman budget-cutting plan. The ultimate consequences are unpredictable, but our social, economic, fiscal and military structures are in clear and grave jeopardy.
That’s the state of the union, as I see it.
FRANK A. ZIMANSKI
Coronado
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