Towards the end of his life, my cousin Gary dressed like Teddy Roosevelt. He had the trademark Knudsen hat, round glasses, and moustache.
To be fair, it was no stretch for Gary to admire The Rough Rider, and it is also true that he participated in various historical reenactment activities as a hobby with his kids. But I believe the real reason for this particular cosplay was that Gary was hiding something.
His cheeks were swollen. He was careful not to open his mouth too wide, because if he wasn’t you could see that his teeth were a dark, mucky brown. Though he refused to see a dentist, it was clear that he had abscesses in several places. Though he would never let on, he must have been in a great deal of pain, and had to have been suffering for a very long time, as infection spread through his mouth.
Wrapping himself in the guise of a historic Republican president was, in fact, denial. He was covering his sickness in the appearance of a famously vigorous and adventurous historical figure, to deflect hard questions and allow himself not to deal with the urgent health issue he refused to acknowledge.
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There are those who would like to see Ronald Reagan’s visage added to that icon of American hegemony, Mount Rushmore, along with two other famous Republican presidents, Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Nevermind that the monument is a desecration of the Lakotas’ sacred Paha Sapa, or that Ronald Reagan is, to many, a controversial figure. Those facts are not convenient and disrupt the narrative of those who would like to elevate him to the same level in the national pantheon as those currently represented on that hill.
Reagan has much to answer for, which, of course, he never will. But his political descendents, still championing supplyside economics, dangerous deregulation, and massive federal deficits, must answer for the increasing financial, educational, and social deficits that result from such policies. Yet there is no indication that they intend to reconcile their fanciful notions with reality. They deny the decaying of our infrastructure and the increasing danger to the American public that come with the neoconservative tenets they embrace without consideration of the possible cost.
Wrapping these disastrous policies in the old Hollywood luster of Ronald Reagan, or, for that matter, the vaunted vigor of Theodore Roosevelt, will not diminish their eventual effects. Denial only makes it easier to ignore what is surely coming as we travel down this destructive road.
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A few months after I saw Gary for the final time, the infection from his abscesses spread to his brain. He slipped into a coma, and a week later he was dead. His family was devastated by his tragic, sudden death.
We need to avoid the horrible mistake of wrapping our problems in the glamour of a dead President.
Broadcast From the Brain Radio 