Stop Republicans from putting Reagan on the dollar

Ok, this has gotten out of hand much sooner than I predicted. The Republicans in the House and Senate are now talking about putting Reagan on either the $10 or $20 dollar bill, or on half of the dimes (Roosevelt would get the other half of the dimes).

I'm sorry, but this man has only just died, and while he was surely an important president historically, he was by no means recognized as a "great" president by all sides (unlike Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt, and Jefferson who are roundly recognized by everyone as "good guys"). This is absolutely outrageous, and it's the kind of thing the Republicans will jam through just like they renamed our airport, our metro station, our international trade building, and lots of other things in DC after Reagan.

Reagan was a controversial president to say the least. Many people with AIDS, and their friends and families, are convinced that Reagan is at least partly responsible for the millions of deaths of people with AIDS who were ignored during Reagan's 8 years in office. And that's just for starters. This is not the kind of president you honor on your national currency, not until there's a national consensus about his place in history, and that consensus has hardly been reached.

It's time for fair-minded Americans to draw a line in the sand. Demand that Republicans stop using Reagan's death for their own partisan political gain. When Democrats held an uplifting funeral for Paul Wellstone, Republicans twisted its message and lied to the American people about it being a "election" rally. Now that the Republicans are ACTUALLY USING A man's death to benefit their party, turnabout is more than fair play.

I strongly suggest folks call and email their congressional office in Washington DC and tell them you are NOT at all pleased about how people are playing politics with Ronald Reagan's death. Demand that he NOT be put on our currency:

- Find your Senator: http://www.senate.gov/
- Find your House member:http://www.house.gov/

Then copy this post and send it to your friends. And if your friends think this is an urban myth, tell them to read this CNN article:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/08/news/economy/reagan_hamilton/index.htm