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America's right-thinkers apparently have too much time on their hands these days.
You'd think that they still had plenty of their regular work to do. After all, there are opponents of school prayer who still dare to venture out on our streets, in broad daylight at that. Some women have been able to reach medical clinics without being harassed or prosecuted for murder. Millions of unrepentant pot-smokers remain at large, and in many locales, the government schools continue to operate while misguided citizens persist in using the government postal service.
But the right-thinkers have added a new goal. It comes
from the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project,
whose
director, Grover Norquist, recently told Congress that his
goal is for every state in the nation, and indeed every
county in each state, to have something named after Ronald
Reagan, our 40th president.
A former executive director of the project, Michael
Kamburowski, explained that We want to create a tangible
legacy so that 30 or 40 years from now, someone who may
never have heard of Reagan will be forced to ask himself
'Who was this man to have so many things named after
him?'
One problem with naming things after people is that it may not bring to mind the proper eponym.
For instance, I'd wager that if you took a survey, at least 95 percent of the residents of Adams County would tell you that it was named for John Adams, second president of the United States. It makes sense, since we have a Washington County for the first president, and a Jefferson County for the third.
But it was actually named for Alva Adams, governor of Colorado from 1897 to 1899, and for part of one day in 1905.
Much the same holds for Wilson Peak and Mt. Wilson, two 14ers in the San Juans. They were named for A.D. Wilson, a topographer with the Hayden survey of 1874, although most people would assume they were named for Thomas Woodrow Wilson, our 28th president.
So there's no guarantee that if we name something after Ronald Reagan, his accomplishments will leap to future minds.
But as a good citizen, I figure it is my obligation to offer some suggestions as to how Colorado and various counties might participate.
At first thought, naming one of our mountains (perhaps one of the two Wilsons, since Wilson was Reagan's middle name) after Reagan seems appropriate -- after all, when people think of Colorado, they think of mountains.
But naming a mountain is a lengthy process, as I've learned in working with the project to put a formal name on Headwaters Hill in Saguache County.
Further, most of our mountains are on federal land, and
since Reagan ran with the support of the Sagebrush
Rebels
who wanted to eliminate public land, this
doesn't seem to fit very well.
Perhaps Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs would work. Its hollowed interior held a major air-defense command center during the Cold War, which peaked under Reagan, and there's talk now of making it a national monument. Put Reagan's name on it, and Colorado will have done its duty by the Legacy Project.
As for counties, here in Chaffee County we have an
abundance of things that closed while Reagan was president
and our unemployment rate was pushing 25 percent. While
people elsewhere may have thought he was saying Morning
in America
in 1984, it sounded like Mourning in
America
here, where stores were closing and half the
town was for sale with no takers.
At any rate, I certainly have no objection if the Monarch Quarry becomes the Reagan Pit.
Lake County, just up the river, got hit even worse then -- its population fell by a third during the Reagan regime. Certainly a tailings pile from an abandoned mine could become the Reagan Dump.
Over the Divide, in Eagle County, there's a major development that started during the Reagan years. It's seriously upscale, a glittering display of the conspicuous consumption that was popular in the 1980s. So it seems appropriate if Beaver Creek becomes Reagan Creek.
Residents of other counties can doubtless think of appropriate items, but their remains our largest city -- since it's the capital of all of Colorado, it's only fair that we outlanders get to make suggestions.
Thus, what in Qwestville (it is my understanding that this is the current name for the city formerly known as Denver, and perhaps to be known as Boeingberg in the near future) should be named for Reagan, so that we don't forget those years.
My nomination is the skyscraper that used to bear the
word Silverado,
as in the sleazy savings and loan
operation that went bust during the Reagan years and cost
U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars. And, since Neil Bush,
brother of the current president, was a director, this
would demonstrate historical continuity.
After all, there really are some things from the Reagan days that we should strive to remember.
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