Good Night, Gerald Ford

While I made as much fun at Ford as anyone during his unenviable reign as the country's unelected 38th president back in my high school years, I came to realize later that Ford was a fairly decent man.

What too few know today, however, is that he was one of the first major victims of the increasing power wielded by the far right. Because Ford stood for women's right to make decisions affecting their own bodies, for example, he was marginalized and mocked. Better for them to have a drooling puppet head, as Reagan was, happy to recite whatever the extreme right told him to say than to allow a man like Ford who stood at least some stands.

While I remain very unhappy that Ford pardoned Richard M. Nixon, I recognize that if Ford had not done it, Reagan or Bush or Bush II would have.

Good night and thanks, Gerald R. Ford.