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President Reagan Showed the Way for Ages to Come
By Dennis Durband, Editor
June 10, 2004
When I think back to the late 1970s, the picture that comes up is one of dreariness. It is not just my memory of Midwestern winters. The national mood accompanying that picture can appropriately be described as "depression."
The bicentennial year of 1976 was a brief respite from the injustices of Roe v. Wade and Watergate and the disappointments of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The advent of ABC's "Nightline" came about by the fall of the American embassy in Tehran and the taking of Americanhostages: "I'm Ted Koppel on the 217th day of America Held Hostage … and this … is Nightline." When the U.S. tried to rescue the hostages, our helicopter crashed in the Iranian desert. We lost our only war in the 1970s. A man could not get a bank loan to purchase an automobile in that time. It was the worst of times and it was the worst of times. America had two left thumbs.
When Ronald Reagan occupied the Oval Office in January 1980, many things began to change for the better. At last, a real American from the Heartland was in charge. He wasn't a namby-pamby like his predecessor; Ronald Reagan was a leader. He was Rambo to Jimmy Carter's Elmer Fudd. Whereas Carter told us what we couldn't do – driving faster than 55, competing in the Moscow Olympics, improving the economy, respecting life, living optimistically – Reagan showed us what we could do to resume our role as a "shining city on the hill."
When Reagan was running for president, pro-lifers met with him and convinced him to put the pro-life plank on his agenda. They had been turned down by the Democrats. The Reagan forces also placed the pro-life plank in the Republican National Committee's platform, where it remains today. He was the first presidential candidate to run as a pro-life candidate. Connie Mackey was on Reagan's White House staff from the start and now works for the Family Research Council. She said that President Reagan's first meeting in office was with pro-life leaders. Mr. Reagan was a great friend of the family, and several photos of the man adorn the walls at Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Reagan will grow with history, for two reasons. His conservative principles were right for that time and for any time. And those who have followed him have been unable to stand in his shadow – not the Bushes and most certainly not Clinton.
Political analysts frequently refer to Reagan as a master politician. I disagree. A politician does what is politically expedient. Reagan did was right. Politicians put themselves ahead of their constituents and pander for votes. Reagan put the nation first and did was right for all. President Reagan never woke up one day and began plotting how to shape his legacy, as President Clinton would do a decade later. Mr. Reagan's legacy spoke for itself.
Gary Bauer recently recalled a cabinet meeting in which he tried to tell President Reagan the most recent polling numbers on an issue. Reagan cut him off and said that polling numbers were not his driving force in decision making. As Clinton would later teach us, you cannot govern effectively by focus groups and public opinion.
John Kerry recently derided the "John Wayne Syndrome" in the U.S. – a big mistake by Kerry. For one thing, the Duke is still an incredibly beloved figure. Cable movie channels play his movies endlessly because people admire the strength and integrity personified by John Wayne. He was American grit, toughness and goodness. Following Jimmy Carter to the White House, Reagan was John Wayne – the new sheriff coming into town and making things right without apologizing to anyone or showing signs of weakness or reservation. By the early 1990s, a foreign leader had to tell Reagan's successor not "to go wobbly" over the crisis in Iraq.
There was nothing wobbly about Reagan. He stood his ground, took no guff and stood it well – like an American. Clint Eastwood said, "go ahead, make my day," as a cop in a movie. Reagan said it as the leader of the free world, and no one challenged his authority.
I never believed the Iron Curtain would fall in my lifetime. Reagan demanded it and he got it -- before I turned 40. There were two presidential statements in the 20th century that dwarf all others. One was Franklin Roosevelt's, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The other is President Reagan's, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
Reagan bombed Libya in response to terrorism. He rescued the Iranian hostages. The greatest president of the 20th century led us and he inspired us. Newt Gingrich called him the second-greatest president of the century, behind Franklin Roosevelt. Gingrich is incorrect in his assertion. Roosevelt's socialism never defeated the Soviet Union, ended the Cold War or promoted individual accountability. FDR's big-government socialism is the genesis of the American nanny state and the loss of the work ethic. Reagan's economic policies – spawned in a time of big-spending Democrats in Congress – led to record tax revenues and economic prosperity in two decades. Reagan recognized government for what it had become: a leviathan gaining in stature, eating up your paycheck and threatening your freedom.
Now days, people say, "abandon the drug war, we can't win it." Nonsense. Reagan's war on drugs resulted in a 37-percent decrease in drug use, a pretty substantial figure. In contrast, Clinton made the drug war No. 29 among 29 presidential priorities. Clinton schmoozed his way through eight years in the White House. Reagan was the best advocate the taxpayer has had in the White House in decades. Since his departure from office, we've seen a parade of elitist globalists reaching for and achieving residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
My only disappointment with President Reagan remains his appointee to the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. At the time, it was hailed as a milestone because she was the first woman on the court. We didn't know for a while what a sordid track record she would compile.
Reagan was one of a kind, possibly the last of a kind. He came out of an era in which Americans still loathed communism, socialism and Marxism. Now, socialists attempt to re-distribute wealth in broad daylight and without apology. Walk through our state university campuses and you may see recruitment booths manned by the Young Democratic Socialists. Some conservatives, separated from their good senses, have also fallen prey to the thought that free markets ought to be controlled by socialist means.
We all know the saying, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Reagan's successors have proven that when you fail to duplicate wisdom and success you won't achieve it. Pessimists say that voters won't go for pro-life candidates, but Reagan and the 2002 elections proved them wrong. Reagan spent much of his political career proving people wrong, and we will do well to emulate all the things he did that were right. President Reagan showed the way for ages to come.
.
By Dennis Durband, Editor
June 10, 2004
When I think back to the late 1970s, the picture that comes up is one of dreariness. It is not just my memory of Midwestern winters. The national mood accompanying that picture can appropriately be described as "depression."
The bicentennial year of 1976 was a brief respite from the injustices of Roe v. Wade and Watergate and the disappointments of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The advent of ABC's "Nightline" came about by the fall of the American embassy in Tehran and the taking of Americanhostages: "I'm Ted Koppel on the 217th day of America Held Hostage … and this … is Nightline." When the U.S. tried to rescue the hostages, our helicopter crashed in the Iranian desert. We lost our only war in the 1970s. A man could not get a bank loan to purchase an automobile in that time. It was the worst of times and it was the worst of times. America had two left thumbs.
When Ronald Reagan occupied the Oval Office in January 1980, many things began to change for the better. At last, a real American from the Heartland was in charge. He wasn't a namby-pamby like his predecessor; Ronald Reagan was a leader. He was Rambo to Jimmy Carter's Elmer Fudd. Whereas Carter told us what we couldn't do – driving faster than 55, competing in the Moscow Olympics, improving the economy, respecting life, living optimistically – Reagan showed us what we could do to resume our role as a "shining city on the hill."
When Reagan was running for president, pro-lifers met with him and convinced him to put the pro-life plank on his agenda. They had been turned down by the Democrats. The Reagan forces also placed the pro-life plank in the Republican National Committee's platform, where it remains today. He was the first presidential candidate to run as a pro-life candidate. Connie Mackey was on Reagan's White House staff from the start and now works for the Family Research Council. She said that President Reagan's first meeting in office was with pro-life leaders. Mr. Reagan was a great friend of the family, and several photos of the man adorn the walls at Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Reagan will grow with history, for two reasons. His conservative principles were right for that time and for any time. And those who have followed him have been unable to stand in his shadow – not the Bushes and most certainly not Clinton.
Political analysts frequently refer to Reagan as a master politician. I disagree. A politician does what is politically expedient. Reagan did was right. Politicians put themselves ahead of their constituents and pander for votes. Reagan put the nation first and did was right for all. President Reagan never woke up one day and began plotting how to shape his legacy, as President Clinton would do a decade later. Mr. Reagan's legacy spoke for itself.
Gary Bauer recently recalled a cabinet meeting in which he tried to tell President Reagan the most recent polling numbers on an issue. Reagan cut him off and said that polling numbers were not his driving force in decision making. As Clinton would later teach us, you cannot govern effectively by focus groups and public opinion.
John Kerry recently derided the "John Wayne Syndrome" in the U.S. – a big mistake by Kerry. For one thing, the Duke is still an incredibly beloved figure. Cable movie channels play his movies endlessly because people admire the strength and integrity personified by John Wayne. He was American grit, toughness and goodness. Following Jimmy Carter to the White House, Reagan was John Wayne – the new sheriff coming into town and making things right without apologizing to anyone or showing signs of weakness or reservation. By the early 1990s, a foreign leader had to tell Reagan's successor not "to go wobbly" over the crisis in Iraq.
There was nothing wobbly about Reagan. He stood his ground, took no guff and stood it well – like an American. Clint Eastwood said, "go ahead, make my day," as a cop in a movie. Reagan said it as the leader of the free world, and no one challenged his authority.
I never believed the Iron Curtain would fall in my lifetime. Reagan demanded it and he got it -- before I turned 40. There were two presidential statements in the 20th century that dwarf all others. One was Franklin Roosevelt's, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The other is President Reagan's, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
Reagan bombed Libya in response to terrorism. He rescued the Iranian hostages. The greatest president of the 20th century led us and he inspired us. Newt Gingrich called him the second-greatest president of the century, behind Franklin Roosevelt. Gingrich is incorrect in his assertion. Roosevelt's socialism never defeated the Soviet Union, ended the Cold War or promoted individual accountability. FDR's big-government socialism is the genesis of the American nanny state and the loss of the work ethic. Reagan's economic policies – spawned in a time of big-spending Democrats in Congress – led to record tax revenues and economic prosperity in two decades. Reagan recognized government for what it had become: a leviathan gaining in stature, eating up your paycheck and threatening your freedom.
Now days, people say, "abandon the drug war, we can't win it." Nonsense. Reagan's war on drugs resulted in a 37-percent decrease in drug use, a pretty substantial figure. In contrast, Clinton made the drug war No. 29 among 29 presidential priorities. Clinton schmoozed his way through eight years in the White House. Reagan was the best advocate the taxpayer has had in the White House in decades. Since his departure from office, we've seen a parade of elitist globalists reaching for and achieving residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
My only disappointment with President Reagan remains his appointee to the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. At the time, it was hailed as a milestone because she was the first woman on the court. We didn't know for a while what a sordid track record she would compile.
Reagan was one of a kind, possibly the last of a kind. He came out of an era in which Americans still loathed communism, socialism and Marxism. Now, socialists attempt to re-distribute wealth in broad daylight and without apology. Walk through our state university campuses and you may see recruitment booths manned by the Young Democratic Socialists. Some conservatives, separated from their good senses, have also fallen prey to the thought that free markets ought to be controlled by socialist means.
We all know the saying, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Reagan's successors have proven that when you fail to duplicate wisdom and success you won't achieve it. Pessimists say that voters won't go for pro-life candidates, but Reagan and the 2002 elections proved them wrong. Reagan spent much of his political career proving people wrong, and we will do well to emulate all the things he did that were right. President Reagan showed the way for ages to come.
.
