Via one of my fellow guest posters at Tacitus I see that the “put Reagan on the dime” movement is going on, again. It’s Sunday morning and the commenters on that piece seem a tad grumpy, but Jesurgislac raises an interesting point: to wit, that FDR was on the dime in the first place because of his work on promoting the March of Dimes.
Frankly, I don’t see why this initiative should go forward. I like Reagan a lot more than I did when I was sixteen and dumb, but he is not dead, his wife has been clear in her opposition to this (and I recognize Nancy’s right to make this judgment on her husband’s behalf) and heck, Reagan admired FDR. For that matter, looking at my change drawer the Democrats are down to having nickels, dimes and half dollars – switch out FDR for the Gipper, and the GOP owns the penny, dime and 50 cent piece and the only Democratic faces on our change will be Jefferson’s and Kennedys.
That last bit is somewhat silly, yes, but still. Let’s just wait until the man has passed on, then boot off Eisenhower for Reagan on the 50 cent piece. That’ll leave the dime where it is and keep our rough parity going.
UPDATE: Kevin Drum in comments below completely destroys my elegant and modestly brilliant compromise by cruelly pointing out that the half dollar is owned by JFK. Nevermind…
only Democratic face on our change will be Jefferson’s.
I think the party at that time was still the Democratic Republicans, wasn’t it? But it seems like the modern Democratic Party can trace its lineage back to it, while the modern Republican Party can’t (but maintains it has a spiritual connection). However, according to Wikipedia, the party was also called the Jeffersonian Republicans or simply, the Republicans.
So I don’t know if we have a clear title on that one.
“So I don’t know if we have a clear title on that one.”
True, but I won’t contest the claim. 🙂
Jefferson is generally seen as a Democrat these days by Democrats – hence the Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinners. Or are those actually Sherm Helmsley-Jesse Jackson type racial shakedowns??
Instead they should just use giant lasers to carve Reagan’s face into the surface of the moon so that it’s visible from earth. That’ll put the fear of God into those Commie Soviets. (Hat tip to Dean for reminding us that threat hasn’t gone away 😉 )
Maybe we should just put the face of the current president on all coins being minted. That way, being on money would be a straightforward matter of historical accuracy rather than an contentious matter of honoring our supposed best leaders. You could even get different portraits for different denominations — that goony picture in the logo of Bush’s blog would be good for the dime, but something more stately would work better for the quarter. Then we can replace the boring buildings and crests on the back sides with something more interesting, like animals. And reverse the irrational size difference between the dime and nickel. So I guess what I’m saying is that I’d approve of just about any change that makes American money more like Australian money (except for the whole “not being worth as much” part).
JFK is on the 50 cent piece. Eisenhower used to be on the dollar, but no longer. So right now the score is one Republican (Lincoln), three Democrats (Jefferson, FDR, JFK) and two Other (Washington, Sacagawea).
Putting Reagan on the dime is still a dumb idea, but just thought I’d be a stickler for accuracy anyway….
Do they still make the 50 cent piece? I haven’t seen them outside of my grandma’s buckets of old change.
The bills are more bipartisan:
Washington (other)
Lincoln (Republican)
Hamilton (we all know he’d be Republican)
Jackson (Democrat)
Grant (Republican)
Franklin (other)
are there higher bills? I’ve never seen one. And I guess Jefferson on the $2.
If we’re going to be worrying about this pressing issue, James Madison got kinda screwed. He’s probably more responsible than anyone for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And the Federalist Society has claimed him as their mascot–I can’t for the life of me figure out why they think he’s for packing the courts with Scalia types, but whatever–so it’s pretty satisfactory across the spectrum.
Teddy Roosevelt, too, but he’s already on Mount Rushmore.
“JFK is on the 50 cent piece.”
Well, there goes that idea: he’ll be on that coin until the last person who remembers his Presidency is dead of old age. Nevermind…
I wouldn’t say putting Reagan on the dime is a dumb idea. For instance, if Congress didn’t have much else to do right now, it might be kind of fun.
Since that’s not the case, though, I have to second the “dumb idea”. It’s not as dumb as the near-daily votes on making something a National Day, but it’s pretty close.
eh, if Reagan is worthy of a coin then Truman is as well.
Lincoln and Washinton have both a coin and a bill. Since FDR was one of the top three presidents, we need to reolve this inequity. Either put FDR on the $2 bill or put Reagan and Truman on the quarter and penny, respectively.
Actually, if I were going to make any change to the dime, I’d want to put the number “10” on it somewhere. Amercian coinage is the most foreigner-hostile money on the planet. The dime doesn’t say “10 cents” or even “ten cents”, it just says “one dime”. How the hell is some European or Japanese tourist supposed to understand that? Even the English are confused by the dime the first time they see one.