Gnostic Cartoon Art Gallery
Voodoo Economics
#14 of 20 from the Yaldabaoth’s Witnesses postcard set
During the 1980 Republican primaries, then-candidate George Bush accused front-runner Ronald Reagan of using "voodoo economics," a statement he later retracted so that he could become Vice President. One wonders in what obscure way this statement may have reverberated in the brain of a man so obviously captivated by symbol and myth. Did this rhetorical attack somehow contribute to Reagan’s later health problems? Or was Reagan’s shadow-play presidency itself a sort of voodoo, a curse which backfired?
Metaphorical speech figured heavily in the Reagan persona. As an actor, Reagan was skilled at presenting policy in terms of anecdote and archetype, easing the passage of otherwise unpalatable proposals by referencing such popular motifs as Star Wars, the evil empire and the welfare queen. Using symbols to magical effect, he helped fill the stomachs of needy children by turning ketchup into a vegetable, reminding one of Jesus turning water into wine. "A big lie will be more easily believed than a small one," Hitler said; Reagan applied this principle with a vengeance.
As Reagan relied on symbols and myths, he also fell prey to them. He agreed with Jerry Falwell that nuclear weapons would probably herald the second coming of Jesus. He scheduled his meetings based on astrological omens. He claimed at one point that the Sandanistas were but a few days march from Texas.
Though most people polled disagreed with Reagan’s actual policies, the public and press were so awed by the personality of this lovable grandfather that he was, in the end, seemingly accountable to nothing but his own fantasies. "Let Reagan be Reagan," the pundits said; was this some sort of profession of faith, like "there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet?" Perhaps the public wanted nothing more from Reagan in the first place than pleasing myths, the myth of Reagan foremost among them.
A chronic fibber known to nap in meetings, Reagan "forgot" more than sixty times what had been going on during his presidency while testifying before the Congress. Unsurprisingly, he was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
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