The Gipper (26 March 2020)

I’m from the government and I’m here to help’. When he was campaigning for the presidency in 1980 Ronald Reagan said these words should strike terror into the heart of any American down on his luck. On entering office Reagan or ‘the gipper’ as he was known made good on his election promise to roll back the state and its institutions and regulations. Subsequent administrations of both parties have continued the good work. As we know he had no greater admirer than the Iron Lady who embarked on similar policies attacking the state on this side of the pond. To say they were successful in making the Anglo sphere ripe for capitalism red in tooth and claw would be understating things by a wide margin. This economic model has proven to be a soar away success for the banksters in both countries and for corporate America. The human cost of deregulation and destruction of safety norms along with the slow strangulation of the United Nations will never be known. We got a small glimpse in the last year as the once mighty flagship corporation of America namely   Boeing collapsed due to the greed of these captains of industry but not before they had managed to kill hundreds of innocent fliers in the process. The success of the right in running down the state is now brought into sharp relief by the virus epidemic. The very people Johnson and his media friends and trump have spent their careers denigrating now hold all our futures in their hands. How easier their job would have been if their role had been given some status over the years. It’s not as if they never warned their political masters about this nightmare scenario. On the contrary.The gipper visited Ireland when campaigning in 84 for reelection. Back then nobody knew we existed apart from the fact that we spent our time blowing each other up and so we were in awe of any recognition at all. Every move he made down to drinking the beer in Ballyporeen was televised and narrated in reverential tones by the clearly star struck Brian Farrell. I remember as Reagan galloped off from one location in a rush Farrell was moved to quote from the poetry of the great Robert Frost himself, called ‘Stopping by woods on a snowy evening’. He said;The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Well I can’t top that.