U.S. Focuses on Reagan Legacy and Rites

President Ronald Reagan: a man of contradictions. He bellowed against a government he felt was too large, yet government is called to accommodate his funeral procession at considerable costs of time and money. He said it was government that was the problem, yet he will lie on the Lincoln plinth.

Abraham Lincoln said it is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. If Reagan believed Lincoln’s philosophy, then he must have felt that the nation’s people are the problem.

With Reagan’s shift of power away from government to business, we now witness the nature of unbridled business: taking the people’s money through cheating accounting schemes, corruptible stock market trading practices, energy companies’ faithless trading practices and businesses able to write their own rules on pollution.

Reagan got communism right; the rest of it he missed.

Matthew Hetz

Los Angeles

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Re “For Some, Unpleasant Memories,” June 9: Thousands upon thousands wait hours to pay their respects to Reagan, and yet The Times continues to exhibit vile hatred for a president America loved. How touching for the enlightened left to expose its true crudeness. You should be embarrassed, but I’m sure you’re not.

Jack Groendal

Mission Viejo

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Nothing pleases me more than witnessing the liberal elitists squirm over the public’s outpouring of respect toward President Reagan. It is a perfect example of how out of touch the left is with most Americans. Reagan was a true man of the people who operated in the real world. Thanks to Reagan -- and too bad for Robert Scheer (Commentary, June 9) -- we won the Cold War. Reagan secured his place in history.

Dana Whitmer

Long Beach

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He will be reviled for it, but Scheer did a service to rational political discourse by telling the truth about Reagan’s administration.

Face it, George W. Bush has performed the miracle of making Reagan look like a good president.

Richard Starnes

Palm Springs

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Am I missing something? Are the media covering the death of an ex-president or a saint?

Frances E. Murphy

Monterey Park

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Nancy Reagan has earned herself a place in heaven and has earned the respect of the millions of Ronnie’s fans by her impeccable and classy behavior as his wife and partner. For better or for worse, Nancy bit the bullet and stayed the course. Dear Nancy, God bless you.

Michael Reardon

Encino

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How much better it would have been if the enormous amounts of money spent for the funeral of a man who died of Alzheimer’s disease would have been spent on research toward finding a cure for it as well as for AIDS.

Gene Buday

Dana Point