No to Reagan on the $50 bill

I'm not ready to join the chorus of those who want to see former President Ronald Reagan replace Ullyses Grant on the $50 bill. Too many reasons to list here, but one of the main reasons would be the fallacy that Reagan was fiscally conservative as President.

Reagan railed against Jimmy Carter's deficits which totaled around $30 billion for the last year of Carter's presidency. Ronnie then doubled the national debt which had been accumulated during our entire history as a nation in his first four years in office, routinely running deficits of $200 billion or more annually.

Carter was much more fiscally conservative than Reagan, yet was attacked as a tax and spend liberal (not true at all).Reagan was cast as some sort of jolly old man who in reality was a puppet for the strongmen who engulfed his presidency.

It is likely that Reagan was already suffering from early effects of Alzheimer's Disease as early as 1984 which was illustrated by his performance in at least one of his debates with Mondale and his inability to speak spontaneously while answering reporters' questions.

In reality, all we had to show for all of Reagan's defense spending was a stockpile of weapons which eventually grew obsolete, but he did keep the defense industry stockholders and CEO's rolling in the dough throughout the 1980's.

Additionally, let's please not put Reagan's face on Mount Rushmore either.