Reynaldus Maximus.
The Great One.
These and many other terms of endearment have been, and will be bandied about over the next week. Even his old enemies seem effusive in their praise of Reagan the man, if not Reagan the politician. Of course there are the LLL who don't even have the class to keep quiet rather than speak ill of the dead, but that is a topic for another day.
The two men in this world whom I've admired the most were my father, and Ronald Reagan. They both greatly influenced who I am today. My father passed on over three years ago now; yet, even though I've expected this for a long time, and didn't even know the man personally, I find myself hit almost as hard by the President's passing.
When I was in high school, I was a perfect candidate for membership in the Democrat Party. Pacifist, anti-war, pro-abortion, etc. Those were the Carter years, with double-digit inflation, marginal tax rates of 75%, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the Misery Index(!).
Election Year 1980 marked the end of my junior year and the beginning of my senior year in high school. As I heard more of what Mr. Reagan had to say, the scales started falling, oh so slowly, from my eyes. What concepts! Personal responsibility, small government, an optimism about the future, peace through strength. I was only 17 that year, so I couldn't cast a vote for him, but by November there were Reagan-Bush '80 bumper stickers an my little blue Pinto, and I was proselytizing for the Reagan Revolution at every opportunity.
Going through high school, I had no idea what I would do as an adult, and really saw no reason to. After all, the world would probably be a radioactive cinder by the time I reached twenty. When I graduated, I had no direction. But as I grew up from teenager to adult, the President's attitudes started to take hold in my life.
I ended up joining the U.S. Air Force, and I was honored to have Ronald Reagan as my Commander-in-Chief. I proudly cast my first Presidential vote for him in 1984.
As the Reagan Revolution moved forward, so did opportunity. I work today in the IT industry, supporting my family with a decent income. I am entirely self-taught. I have owned my own business in the past, and I will do so again within the next few years. I have learned that you cannot wait for the world to give you a break; If you can't find an opportunity, then you make one. If you fall on your face, don't whine about it; get up and keep on going. No matter what storms come your way, if you lean into it and push through, and look to the Lord for your strength, you will make it to the other side.
Mr. Reagan, thank you. Thank you for helping make this a land of opportunity again. Thank you for your example.
This election year, our choices are nearly the same as in 1980: strength, self-reliance, and optimism; or flip-flops, UN cow-towing, and cynicism.
The Reagan Revolution continues. Let's win this one for the Gipper!
crossposted at Confessions of a Jesus Phreak
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Saleski
...or flip-flops
yes, bush's flip-flops are becoming quite tiresome.
2 - jack e. jett
shouldn't it be...let's kill some for the gipper?
let's kill some more folks from iraq who had nothing to do with 9/11.
let's kill some more of their children because they are not as important as ours.
let's abuse and torture those WE deem to be criminals prior to any trial.
let's totally destroy a country so dick cheney's company can rebuild it.
let's destroy their places of worship because they do not know "jesus as their saviour".
yeah...let's do all that for the gipper.
i say fuck the gipper and the bush.
jack e. jett
3 - John
What is it with the snarky, no-class commenters these days? Some intelligent debate would be nice, for a change. For God's sake, the man just died, and I've never seen so many people lining up to piss on his grave. I was taught two things growing up: 1) Speak no ill of the dead, and 2) If you don't have something good to say about someone, then just shut up!
Guess it's hopeless to ask for that anymore.
sigh...
4 - Mark Saleski
look, i'm sorry pres. reagan got that horrible disease. i'm sorry that he died. nobody deserves to go like that. i truly feel sorry for his family as well.
however, his death does not require me or anybody else to elect his king of the 'effin world.
this supposedly heartfelt post ended with a "snarky, no-class comment", by the way.
5 - John
I rest my case.
6 - Mark Saleski
sorry, i forgot to genuflect.
7 - Mac Diva
Give the Diva props! I anticipated the Nattering Neanderthals would describe Reagan as their second father Saturday.
Perhaps we should begin having contests at Blogcritics. I nominate this entry for the greatest use of trite and meaningless phrases recently. Apologies to Al Barger. His entry on Ronald Reagan's going on to you know where was chock full of 'morning in America' and 'shining house on the hill,' but Scott Bell has beaten him by a long shot. Unless David Flanagan posts a picture of himself in sackcloth and ashes along with his sure to be lengthy lamentation, Bell gets the blue ribbon.
8 - John-z
Do you have nothing better to do Mac than mutter bullshit.
You have no say. You are not even a black female, just a fictional character like Sponge Bob.
I was on here six months ago and all the same freak show idiots are still here.
9 - Mac Diva
ROFL! Laughing fictional arse off!
Right Wingers are so strange. I compliment one of them for doing something really well and another of'em complains. There's no pleasing these people.
10 - boomcrashbaby
Mac Diva, I agree with you on this thread. If I run across one more God and Guns personal home blog, I'm going to start getting paranoid.
It's only a matter of time, I suppose before gunshop owners either become ordained ministers, or the little ole ladies in the church start selling ammo and licenses alongside baked goods!
11 - jack e. jett
wait..
is mac diva having an affair with sponge bob?
i find that more intersting than j and mark lo.
true diversity.
jack
12 - Bob A. Booey
I find most of the comments on this topic tiresome, but here's a reminder of what good writing looks like from Chris Hitchens (many of you may have already read this since Drudge linked it today.:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2101842
Cruel, but brilliant, pointed and honest. Oh, and Hitchens is good too.
That is all.
13 - RJ Elliott
"let's kill some more folks from iraq who had nothing to do with 9/11.
let's kill some more of their children because they are not as important as ours.
let's abuse and torture those WE deem to be criminals prior to any trial.
let's totally destroy a country so dick cheney's company can rebuild it.
let's destroy their places of worship because they do not know "jesus as their saviour".
yeah...let's do all that for the gipper.
i say fuck the gipper and the bush.
jack e. jett"
That's quite a eulogy. Are you going to be in attendance at the National Cathedral on Friday?
14 - RJ Elliott
"this supposedly heartfelt post ended with a "snarky, no-class comment", by the way."
In a sense, I agree. This is the kind of crap that the Wellstone people pulled. And they got burned for it...
Reagan's death shouldn't be a political issue. It should be a solemn occasion for the country to come together.
Meanwhile, the rabid Left is busy urinating on his non-existant grave, and the right-wing is busy trying to cannonize him, and make him GW Bush's running mate.
STOP!
A great man died. Let's pay our respects, and nothing more.
15 - Natalie Davis
Except that not everyone believes Reagan was a great man. They should be silent to protect your feelings? When the world is filled with canonizations of this person, perhaps they do a service to provide an alternative POV. Mileage varies, Mr. Elliott, and dissenters won't march in lockstep just because you want them to do so.
I'll give you this much: He was a better actor than some believe.
16 - RJ Elliott
ND:
When a President dies, the honorable, American thing to do is to either honor him for a week, or shut up for a week.
Since you hate your country, I expect nothing of the sort from you.
I was only speaking to patriots.
BTW, when are you finally emigrating to Canuckistan?
17 - Natalie Davis
No doubt you and I define "patriot" differently, Mr. Elliott.
I don't hate my country. I don't have a country and I don't believe in the entire concept. And yes, when I can afford to go, you bet I will. You want me to go sooner? Send money. :)
18 - bhw
RJ, when the former leader of a supposedly free country dies, why is it that free speech should suddenly only apply to the people who thought he could do no wrong?
There is no reason for people who don't like the man, didn't vote for him, and lament his legacy to be quiet in the face of all the blind pro-Reagan nonsense going on. Puhleeze.
19 - RJ Elliott
Again, the decent thing to do is to not piss on his grave. There is clearly quite a bit of indecency on BC. No surprise.
Attack him in July. Why now?
20 - Natalie Davis
Because I have kids who, from TV and the news, are hearing one side of the story and a lot of inaccuracies. And they are far from alone. Offering a full and honest portrait -- which the media are NOT presenting now, only canonization bullshit -- is doing a public service. I mourn Reagan in the same way I mourned Timothy McVeigh; every death is a diminishment. But honor him? No. If it's impolitic for me to speak an abridged portion of my piece rather than to defer to the slobberers, then so be it. But to suffer the BS in silence for the sakes of people like yourself? Why?
21 - bhw
Um, because he DIED now, RJ. It's time for the retrospectives, and that includes the good and the bad.
In July, the story will be ... well ... dead.
It is not pissing on someone's grave to talk about how much you didn't like a certain recently deceased president. It's commentary on the news.
22 - Mark Edward Manning
I respect Hitchens a lot for his position on Iraq, but that column on Reagan really does reveal what a a dyed-in-the-wool leftie Hitchens really is. Hitchens a neo-con, my ass.
23 - Mark Saleski
ah, so conservatives DO watch their tv's in black & white.
24 - JR
If Reagan's critics have to stay silent for a week, then in the interest of fair play his supporters should shut up too. It would be the decent thing to do.
25 - John-z
If it weren't for President's like him only criminals would have guns and homosexuals wolud own the public parks and bath houses.
My mistake they have already diseased the parks and bath houses now the sanctity of marriage is next.