Monday, February 7, 2011

The Reagan Legacy - Still the Best Blueprint for America



Remember the movie Field of Dreams – James Earl Jones in his rich royal voice telling Kevin Kostner “If you build it, they will come.” That’s what seemed to happen one hot summer day last year. The date was August 28, 2010. From all over America, people began a pilgrimage. Some left days before. Most awoke early on the 28th, leaving their homes in the middle of the night, boarding buses, trains, planes and cars. They converged on the nation’s capital in droves. Old, young, families, every race, creed and color, they came, drawn to the National Mall like moths to a flame, not really knowing what to expect, but hoping, praying that it would be good for them, for their families and for their country. A half a million Americans gathered and waited as the event was about to begin, stretching out from the Lincoln Memorial, along the Reflecting Pool, past the WW II Memorial, reaching back to the Washington Monument, rising tall above the Mall with the engrave plaque, reading Deo Gratias at its peak.

There was something special in the air as we waited, something good, some spiritual sense of peace, some quiet connection amongst the throng who had gathered, a sense that we were all united in a cause greater than ourselves, when in the hazy blue sky, from the Washington Monument, a perfect formation of geese flew overhead, above the Reflecting Pool, straight to the Lincoln Memorial. Was this a sign of sorts? For those of us who were there, you know exactly how we felt.

This was the Restoring Honor Rally organized by Glenn Beck. We came hoping for something, something positive for those of us who worried that our country had been hijacked, turned asunder, and plunged down a dark abyss with no bottom, by an administration that seemed hell bent on destroying over 200 years of culture, tradition, and values, that millions before us protected, nurtured, and passed on to us to safeguard. We prayed, we sang, we honored America, we remembered who we were and why we were here. When the day was done, we came away, refreshed, encouraged, and more determined than ever that our fight to restore honor to our republic was achievable.

Beck’s message was simple. If we all act as Americans, in the true sense of who and what we are, if we practice being good to ourselves, to our neighbors, and sacrifice for our country, then one by one we can change America, regardless of the politicians. But to do that, to live the life, to preserve the dream, to promote the optimism and hope for our future, we must know our past. We must understand and be comfortable with who we are as Americans, we must understand that America does have a date with destiny, that there has been Divine Providence at work in the founding, the formation and the growth of our country. And we must understand that we have lost our way. We must understand that we have to turn back to the founding principles. We must embrace individual freedom, personal responsibility, limited government and free markets. We must become what our forefathers envisioned, and if we each do that, we can reverse the slide, regain the greatness, and restore honor to America.

I begin with this story, because I left that rally feeling good about America in a way I had not experienced since Reagan was in office. I believe Beck captured the essence of Reagan’s message, namely that it is the inherent goodness of the American People that defines the nation’s character – that we, the people, can carry the dream despite the self-centered interests of politicians who would mortgage our future for their own power and personal gain. That ethereal concept of finding who we are as Americans takes on substance if we look to Ronald Reagan, who in his words, his actions and in his presidency personifies the ideals that we seek as Americans.

Here is a man who was completely at ease in his skin. He lived his ideals, he knew what was at his core, and he proudly professed what he believed in. He didn’t test the political wind, vacillate depending upon his audience du jour, or couch his words to be politically correct. He endured criticism, both from his political enemies and from the media, with a smile. He spoke directly to the American people with a message that was clear and unambiguous, and the people responded. He lifted a nation out of its malaise and set us on a path of unprecedented prosperity and pride.

Considering the current state of our nation, as I continue, I ask that you weigh each aspect of his beliefs, his vision and his legacy against the current occupant in the White House. I also ask you to examine how relevant all that Reagan professed years ago is today. As I read and researched, I found it uncanny that the words spoken by Reagan 30-40 years ago are still the best answers to the problems facing the nation today. If we had just one politician, no make that one statesman, who could eloquently speak today the words that Reagan spoke, the nation would swarm to that person, and carry him or her to the presidency in 2012.

You can tell something about a man but what he writes, not what is written for him. Ronald Reagan was a prolific writer. He wrote his scripts for his radio show, many of his speeches and countless letters to friends, public figures and the common American who expressed his concerns to the President. His letters were personal, folksy, and plainly written. He exuded eternal optimism, loved his country with all its faults, and believed in the greatness of the American people. His message encouraged self reliance, placed individual liberty as the pinnacle of our rights and humbly acknowledged the handwork of our Creator in the framework of our country.

In a letter to a Mrs. Lenore Hershey back in the 1970s Reagan explained some of his feelings about America:

“In reply to your letter of May 21, here is why I still believe in what is right about America.

Americans are, in their time of discontent, encouraged by doom and gloom criers who would have us believe our only salvation lies in becoming docile sheep for the government shepherd. I happen to believe government is not the solution to our problems – government is the problem.

It is true we have grievous troubles, but it’s also true we are better off than any other people on earth. Ninety five percent of our people have the daily minimum intake of nutrients essential to maintain health; 99 percent of our homes have gas or electric appliances in their kitchens; 96 percent have TVs, and we own 120 million automobiles and trucks. That’s on the material side.

There is a spiritual side. We are a generous people. We have shared our wealth more widely among our people than any other society heretofore known to man. We support more churches and libraries, more symphonies and operas, and more nonprofit theaters than any other country. We publish more books than all the rest of the world put together.

One third of all young people in the world who are getting a college education are getting it in the United States and we have more doctors and hospitals, in proportion to population, than any other country in the world.
Now all we need is to be reminded of our destiny – that God intended America to be free; to be the golden hope of all mankind.” (1a)

Throughout his radio broadcasts, he offered his views on life, politics, and the trials of everyday Americans. He criticized government and what was wrong with America, but always held out hope for a better future, acknowledging that we are all human and make mistakes. He believed that America was the greater good worth fighting for even when it became his time to sacrifice his career for the war.

When Reagan was thirty years old, World War II broke out. In talking about a few movie parts he was being offered he said this, “I’ve been told, here at the studio, of two very important parts that were to be mine, They are in pretty big pictures, so I guess I can say my rules work. But I won’t be doing those pictures. Uncle Sam has called me, a Reserve Officer in the Calvery, and I’m going off to war, still true to my precepts: (a) to love what you are doing with all your heart and soul, and (b) to believe what you are doing is important.

I love the Calvery….(A)nd along with a few million other guys, I feel pretty strong about my country. As for believing what you are doing is important – well, if fighting to preserve the United States and her Allies isn’t important, you name it.

And who knows – maybe when I get back again, “when the world is free” there will be other parts waiting for me and for my buddies.” (3a)

We’ve all heard the stories, the quotes, those moments that will live forever. I don’t know about you, but it seems that whenever I hear the words “Ronald Reagan” I feel a smile coming on, I feel good, I feel proud to be an American. There was something real, something very human, something very approachable about our president. When he was shot, the nation held its breath, but even out of that terribly frightening time in our history, he managed to keep his humor, his smile and his magic.

Peggy Noonan relates a number of anecdotes:

When he was shot - When they told him he was going to be operated on he looked up at the doctors and said, “I just hope you’re all Republicans”

…..in the recovery room, Ronald Reagan had started to come to. When he opened his eyes Nancy had been with him, looking down at him, and he did what he did when she was upset. He repeated the joke “Honey, I forgot to duck.”

During the time that he couldn’t speak, he wrote notes:

“Could we rewrite this scene beginning about the time I left the hotel?”

“Send me to L.A. where I can see the air I’m breathing.”

“If I had this much attention in Hollywood I would have stayed there.”

A note to his top aides “Who’s minding the store?” And when they assured him the government was running as usual he said “What makes you think that would make me feel better?” (3b)

Let’s get back to the problems we face today. I want to read something, and you tell me, is there anyone out there today who is really saying what has to be said. We know where Barack Obama is taking us. We know how he has handled foreign policy, the economy, the military, political correctness, and how he has become an apologist for what he believes is American arrogance. If anyone is looking for the answers to the question, “what is Obama doing wrong and how do we correct it,” I suggest the following:

“We are a proud people with much in our history to be proud of. But in our nation’s capital, pride in our country and our heritage seems to be out of fashion. That is not true of our people. All over America I have found the people hungering to be told the truth about our situation and ready to respond to a legitimate call to duty. The American people are not ready to consign the American Dream, with all that it means to oppressed people everywhere, to the dustbin of history.

May I suggest an alternate path our nation can take; a change in foreign policy from the vacillation, appeasement and aimlessness of present policy?

That path must offer three broad requirements. First, it must be based on firm convictions, inspired by a clear vision of, and belief in, Americas’ future. Second, it calls for a strong economy based on the free market system which gave us an unchallenged leadership in creative technology. Third, and very simply, we must have unquestioned military ability to preserve world peace and our national security. And let me make it plain this can only be done if we eliminate the foolishness that has reduced almost to the vanishing point our intelligence gathering capability.

We cannot afford for example having 8 congressional committees overseeing all covert intelligence operations.

…..We turn dollars made available to American taxpayers over to the United Nation and other international organizations who make no effort to separate the deserving from the undeserving. And in doing so we often find ourselves underwriting those who call us imperialist while their pursuit of Marxism is literally subsidized by American capitalism.

….We have lost out in international economic competition not only because we have overgoverned, overregulated and overtaxed, but because our method of taxation has discouraged investment risk and enterprise, and the results of overtaxation have siphoned people and their work from the private sector, which accounts for our production, to the public sector, which is not only the least productive segment of our economy, but devotes much of its activity to impeding production…” (2a)

My friends, Ronald Reagan wrote this in March 1980, before he was elected to the presidency. Simple, straightforward, unashamed, unambiguous, and easily understood by the common man. Those words, spoken almost 31 years ago, still outline the framework for restoring America’s greatness today.

Truths, values, core beliefs in line with the Founders vision, have no expiration date. Sadly, today, the only clear voice opposing President Obama, and offering a plan for greatness, is the voice of our last great president, repeated by those of us who understand what is truly at stake.

But let’s move on. Let’s touch a few more problems we face today. The 111th Congress, in its Lame Duck death throes, managed to extend unemployment benefits to 3 years. This was supposed to be a way to stimulate the economy - how in God’s name, I’ll never know.

In a letter to Secty of Health and Human Services, Richard Schweiker, replying to an article that states were forbidden to require work in exchange for unemployment benefits …. ”Why didn’t unemployment insurance start out with something like a work requirement? It sure would end the “extended vacation” feature some have used it for.” (1b)

In a letter to Mr. Irving Moulton, Perrysburg, Ohio, Reagan expressed the need to think about the regular tax paying American when we talk about welfare and unemployment insurance “…..Yes we have compassion for those who’ve tried and failed or who through no fault of their own must seek our help.

But we can’t impose unfairly on those who carry the load and make this country go and whose taxes pay the freight. For too long the forgotten American has been the citizen who sends the kids to school, goes to work, supports church and charity and pays taxes to keep the wheels turning. We’ll keep thinking of and caring for these Americans.” (1c)

When a man has strong convictions, he is not afraid to act for what he knows is right, and criticism be damned. When the air traffic controllers went out on strike Regan proclaimed that if the air traffic controllers “do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.” And then, when they defied his presidential proclamation, he did with no one expected – he fired 11,000 controllers.

No where is strength and conviction more vital than in establishing a nation’s foreign policy. Our enemies can sense weakness, lack of resolve, and hollow threats. They can recognize a paper tiger and will poke and prod at the soft underbelly of a nation bereft of the will to defend itself and stand up for what is morally right. We have all witnessed America shamefully brought to her knees due to the inactions of presidents who did not understand their sacred duty to defend the country and its citizens.

On November 4, 1979 a handful of Iranians seized the American embassy in Teheran and captured 52 American citizens, holding them captive for 444 days. A weak and ineffectual President Carter retreated to the White House while America, a superpower, was castrated by a handful of Islamic radicals.

Today, the capitulation and appeasement policies of the Obama administration have emboldened our enemies to once again probe the weaknesses of the once proud eagle. The malicious intentions of North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and the ever present threat of Islamic Fundamentalism are allowed to fester, oblivious to the platitudes of the United Nations and the mealy-mouthed rhetoric of a president without convictions.

Just as our enemies can sense weakness, they are acutely attuned to the threat that accompanies a leader with the moral strength to act on his convictions. Reagan was clear in his criticism of the Carter administration’s handling of the hostage situation, and the hostage takers understood that he would not allow the crisis to continue unabated. The Iranian Hostage Crisis ended the moment Reagan was sworn in as president.

His policy towards the Soviet Union, likewise, was based on his conviction that the “evil empire” must be defeated. He reversed the established policy of détente, embarking on a military arms buildup and a deliberate escalation of the Cold War. Rather than appeasement and capitulation, Reagan challenged the Soviet Union to keep pace with America’s military expansion and threatened to throw out the balance of power with the Strategic Defense Initiative, The Star Wars Missile Defense System.

He understood that we must always negotiate from a position of strength, and when arms reduction talks with the Soviets did not go his way, he walked out of the meeting, much to the chagrin and astonishment of the diplomatic elite. It was Reagan, together with Pope John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher, who formed a triumvertae of principled, strong willed statesmen, confident that there goals were pure, their convictions honorable, whose actions eventually resulted in the total collapse of the Soviet Empire without firing shot.

One of the biggest arguments between conservatives and liberals is the role of government in manipulating and stimulating the economy. We have witnessed unprecedented spending, bailouts, so-called stimulus packages, government regulation and takeover of major segments of the American economy, with the resultant skyrocketing debt that has mortgaged the future of our children and grandchildren. The liberal playbook, in a striking resemblance to Soviet-Era central planning, proclaims that only the government can produce change ensuring fairness and equality of outcome, leaving us all suffering equally and strangling investment, entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Reagan philosophy called for government to get out of the way, unleashing private enterprise and free market capitalism to determine the winners and losers while stimulating the economy.

As with JFK’s analogy of a rising tide lifting all ships, Reagan’s theory of trickle-down economics, while loudly condemned by the left, produced a vibrant economic climate in the 1980s. Reagan knew that economic change, economic growth, is contingent on American ingenuity, technology and the willingness to take a risk.

To quote George Will:

“Change begins in America when Thomas Alva Edison in Menlo Park, New Jersey, says he has not failed because 80 materials have proved unsatisfactory for making filament for an electric light bulb – he has succeeded in learning 80 things that didn’t work….”

“Change begins in America when in a garage in Detroit, the young Henry Ford conceives not only a vehicle for the masses, but a mode of mass production that will make Americans mobile and prosperous…”

“Change begins in America when in 1954 a traveling saleman of six-spindled milk-shake machines called Multimixers visits the McDonald brothers’ restaurant in San Bernadino, California, where eight Multimixers were kept busy. The idea Ray Kroc got that day produced not only a great corporation, but an entire industry.” (4a)


Will goes on to describe the boom of the 1980s:

“During Reagan’s term The key to America’s success has been job creation – 19 million more than Europe’s net job creation in those years. There were 93 consecutive months of economic growth, a peacetime record. The economy grew by one third during the Reagan years, as though we had added another economy the size of West Germany…..”

“In the so-called “decade of greed” Americans gave more to charity – more as a percentage of their wealth- than ever before, and did so in spite of the fact that the reduction of marginal tax rates sharply reduced the incentives for giving. The “decade of greed” can more accurately be called the “decade of industriousness” because more Americans worked harder than ever before, producing more wealth than was produced ever before.” (4b)

George Will had it right, but Reagan’s own word’s, even simpler than Will’s, profess that unbounded faith in the citizens of this great land:

“We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefitting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.”

And to emphasize the limitless potential embodied by a free society: “There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder.”

Reagan knew that it was the American people who made the nation great. Not the politicians, not the bureaucrats and not those who were uncomfortable with the idea of American exceptionalism. Listening to the words of his last presidential address to the American people, he once again spoke honestly and simply:

“An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school.

And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.

But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.”

Once again, the words spoken over twenty years ago have as much meaning and as much authority today as they did then – it’s just that not enough people are saying those words, and meaning them, and living them.

When we think of Reagan - no, when we dream of Reagan, when we begin to feel that warmth and pride at being Americans, when we picture his easy, confident smile, the “aw shucks” demeanor that endeared him to the everyday working man, we have to wonder, “Did we really have this man as our president, or was it the fantasy of a heartwarming movie, the storyline of a marvelous book, read and enjoyed by so many, and indelibly etched into the collective American memory.” Ronald Reagan was all that we envision as good about America, he was that special embodiment of Americana, so beautifully brought to life by Frank Capra. With all due respect to Jimmy Stewart, Reagan was Jefferson Smith in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” He was George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He was the kind grandfatherly figure smiling at a child, the self-reliant cowboy riding the range, the determined warrior challenging the “evil empire” – “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” and the comforting voice in times of sorrow, “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.”

Over the course of the last two years the American people were awakened from their slumber by continual government encroachment and the accelerated erosions of our liberties, the “fundamental change” promised by Barack Obama. The voice of “We the People” rose loud and strong and accomplished what our elected representatives were unable to do on their own, apply the breaks to the runaway trainwreck that the current administration was orchestrating so well. Again, let us return to words of Ronald Reagan, spoken at the 1986 State of the Union Address: “Government growing beyond our consent had become a lumbering giant, slamming shut the gates of opportunity, threatening to crush the very roots of our freedom. What brought America back? The American people brought us back -- with quiet courage and common sense; with undying faith that in this nation under God the future will be ours, for the future belongs to the free.”

My friends, this nation has been held close to the heart of our Creator since its birth. Divine Providence has guided us and led the way. The hand of God has never wavered from America – yes, we have let that hand go, and turned our back on our God at times – but He has never left our side.

We have been blessed with the right person being there when we needed them most; the Founders coming together to conceive this Dream that we have all inherited, Washington overcoming staggering odds and multiple failures to lead a fledgling nation, Lincoln holding the Union together by his sheer will, a magnificent military of brave warriors, sacrificing all for a greater good when faced with threats to liberty, both to themselves and to strangers around the world, and Ronald Reagan, exuding his eternal optimism and belief in the American people, emerging out of the malaise of the Carter presidency to restore hope and dignity to a nation when it needed it most, staring down our mortal enemies, uplifting the spirit of a whole country and once again focusing America on its eternal destiny to be the light of freedom to the entire world.

And now, as we patriots fight to once again rescue our nation from the malfeasance and ineptitude of those entrusted with the stewardship of our children’s and grandchildren’s inheritance, we wait for the next Ronald Reagan to emerge. But, as we look across the broad spectrum of the political landscape, there is no apparent figure rising to the occasion, and so it is my friends, that this time it may be up to each and every one of us to pick up the mantle and serve our country.

As I close, we come full circle back to the theme of Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally. If we each understand who we are as Americans, why we are here, why America is a special place, “that shining city on a hill,” and if we return to the founding principles, the traditions and mores of our Judeo-Christian faith, and begin to live our lives guided by the principle of personal responsibility, if we encourage entrepreneurship and free markets, if we fight for limited government at every turn, if we cherish our liberty, fight for it with every breath we take, and if we do it with confidence in America’s future, with a smile on our face, with a hand extended to our fellow Americans, and with a profound belief that all we have has been given to us by our Creator, then we can, and we will make things right.

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless America


Selected Bibliography and Footnotes:

Reagan – A Life In Letters
Edited by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson & Martin Anderson
New York: Free Press, 2003
(1a) p258, (1b) p349, (1c) p349,

Reagan – In His Own Hand
Edited by Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson & Martin Anderson
New York: Touchstone, 2002
(2a) P471,


Noonan, Peggy. When Character Was King
New York: Viking Penguin, 2001
(3a) p51, (3b) p186,

Will, George. The Leveling Wind
New York: Viking Penguin, 1994.
(4a) p423, (4b) p266,