1 Ensuring that peak oil when it happens would create a situation in the US which will make the great depression seem tame.
While I would say this is a failing of the Reagan Administration... and America in general, no one at that time likely would have done otherwise. So I would say that pointing the blame at Reagan is, at the least, unfair. I hardly agree with your assesment that domesday is inevitable, though. Still enough oil to last a while, if we start soon, we can do somethign about it. Fact is, the whole country has mutally agreed to certain lifestyle choices that are highly wasteful. There does seem to be a trend towards moving back into the cities, away from the exurbs, though, and it woudl not be too difficult to bring back the trollys back.
It is worth noting that Congress never, in all those 8 years, turned in a budget that was lower than what Reagan had turned in (I think there was near parity in 86, but other than that....). It is alos worth noting that, as a percentage of the total GDP, the Reagan deficit was acctually pretty small compared to past deficits.
Well, ganja has never really exicted one way or the other, but I guess the fact that it is such an issue for you is pretty telling. Eitherway, I have been to college, anyone who isn't acting like a complete idiot can easily get away with doing a little weed and not getting caught. As for the War on Drugs, the biggest target was Crack, which was a big problem at the time.
Well, either you hate the military... which I wouldn't discount, or you don't realize how bad off the military really was after years of budget cuts under Ford and Carter. The Space program was, and has since the 1970's been a total joke. As for technology, well, I guess you aren't aware how much of the technology that was developed by the military in the 80's has gone into improving our everyday lives. And that is not even to mention all the things the military invented under Reagan, which allowed us to opperate with a smaller and less expensive force.
Example?
Well, I don't know, I didn't see the death squads patroling the street when Reagan was President, but you like to think you have a talent for re-writing history, so I will let you have this one.
As for Yeltsin... Hell, I think the Russians were better off under him than the quasi-fascist Putin, but saddly fascism and dependency on oligarchs has always held a strage appeal to the masses.