I try not to pick on the Gipper, mainly because the loyalty of the GOP to his legacy makes the MAGA people pale in comparison. Talking true smack about the Gipper brings hatred, as I learned upon publicizing Reagan’s role as the only US president convicted of War crimes.But lately it’s looking like 2022 will be disastrous for the Ds, and besides inflation (probably has something to do with giving the Plutocrats a trillion dollars in tax breaks, but that’s for another time), the thing the Repubs hold Biden and the Ds responsible for is high gas prices. Which means most ‘Muricans are ignorant of the crucial role Reagan played in getting us to this point.

In all the controversy about the upward movement of prices for gas, no one remembers Reagan and how he set it off. Remember? When Reagan tore down the Jimmy Carter solar panels on the WH, he wasn’t just breaking with Carter and this wasn’t just about Reagan’s anti Enviro stance.. Reagan was also sending a clear and unmistakeable message to Saudi Arabia and Opec. Under the Rs the US would NOT throw its technological weight on finding a replacement for oil. This became clear in the eight years of Ronny’s presidency—he sharply curtailed funding on alt energy, and the US, which was once the leader in such technology, became a has-been. And the end result was that when OPEC or the Saudis decided to cut production or increase prices, the US HAD NOWHERE TO GO.

It also meant that the US had very little to threaten the Saudis with when they went on an international crime spree. The Saudis always had the oil weapon, and our Allies were dependent on it. We couldn’t punish them for oppressing women or murdering Khashoggi or attacking Yemen. Imagine that Yemen was thought to be involved in 9/11—would the US have looked the other way as Yemeni Nationals were loaded onto private jets and taken home before the FBI could interrogate them? But we did that for the Saudi Royals, leaving many questions about the Saudi funding for the attack (carried out mostly by Saudi nationals).

Poor Jimmy. one of many things we shoulda listened to you for.