Well, the visitors at CNN (where the linked story goes) are decidedly antipathetic:

On what currency should Ronald Reagan's image be placed?

Dime 7%
$10 bill 23%
$20 bill 10%
Other 5%
None 55%
total responses to this question: 77945

I'm the 77945th response, and I said $20, because it will be widely used for longer than the $10. But an alternative would be the proposed rejuvenation of the $1 coin.

Let's see:

Quarter, $1 - Washington...President, father of country, first Commander in Chief, bought the rest of the founding fathers space to get the whole thing rolling. Yup, he stays.
Penny, $5 - Lincoln...President, biggest crisis in US history, bought all of us a united nation (at great cost). We'd all be local yokels instead of Americans without him. Yup, he stays.
$10 - Hamilton...bastard, provided much of the philosophical underpinnings of the US system, got the US Treasury started. Yup, he belongs on a Federal Reserve Note.
Nickel - Jefferson...provided another big chunk of the philosophical underpinnings of the US, President, bought a third of the lower 48, penned some of the most inspiring and meaningful documents in the history of mankind. Yup, he should stay.
****************************************
$2 - Adams...wha? President, I guess. But who uses $2 bills anyway?
Dime - FDR...President. our smallest coin inspired by the creator of the welfare state?
Half - Kennedy...President. didn't do as much as we all dreamed of doing...didn't have time. Sad, but a coin?
Dollar (coin) - Ike...President. Champion of the interstate highway system, for which I send my thanks every time I drive more than 100 miles. On a coin?
Fifty - Grant...President. General. Honorable man. Drunk. Did OK under Lincoln, but not a lot of legacy on his own.
Hundred - Franklin...Founding father who was everywhere, did everything, had philosophical input, but didn't take primary responsibility for much. Good guy -- I'd like to be him (understand he lived to a nice age with lots of active interests [some probably named Yvette]) but why is he on a C-note?
Dollar (coin) - Susan B. Anthony...um, not a President. Suffragette -- this has to do with money how, again?
Dollar (coin) - Sacagawea...um, not a President. Um, not a lot of written records. Um, why is she on a coin?
$20 - Jackson...President. General. Best known for winning a glorious battle after the war had already ended.
*******************************************
My take is that Reagan has less of a claim to be on currency than the first group, the same or equal claim to be on currency than the second group.

As a southerner, I think he should replace Grant (*grumble*).

I suppose there will be some vocal opposition to replacing Hamilton. I started to say that there wouldn't be much of a lobby for him, but I see Chernow is leading the charge.

Why not adopt the proposal floated in connection with the dime? Print half the run with Hamilton, and half with Reagan? It would mitigate the arguments of those against eliminating his image. The claim that five billion notes (or whatever the number is) just isn't enough rings hollow.

Let's not consider the potential impact of putting Reagan on our money. On the plus side, we honor a man who ended the Cold War, revolutionized the economy, and starred in a movie with a monkey - any one of which makes him top-notch in my book. On the minus side, if we honor Reagan this way, I envision a million shrieking liberals insisting that Bill Clinton end up on a twenty dollar bill designed expressly for stuffing into the G-strings of strippers. I don't want to see Clinton's face on anything, let alone money.

Counter-point: My wife points out that Reagan was vastly more popular than Clinton, so Clinton wouldn't have the same groundswell of support.

Counter-counter-point: While his numbers may be fewer, they are much louder.

Join the Linux community. Linuxwaves.net