We often hear people refer to America as a democracy. In a pure democracy the people vote on every issue and the majority, no matter how slim, wins the day. The danger of democracy historically has been that it devolves in time into mob rule. When people don't get what they want they go to the streets and try to bully the opposition into surrendering. The result is chaos and civil war.
Our Founders, understanding the weakness of such a system, wisely created a republic, a representative government, to protect the rights of the minority. The people take part in a democratic process by electing from their peers someone to represent them in the government. The checks and balances built into the system with the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial branches of government ensure the rights of all the people, the minority included. This system has worked fairly well for over two centuries keeping the country operating peacefully and generally promoting the welfare of the people.
Obviously there are flaws because people are flawed, but this system of government by the people, a first in world history, has succeeded because the people have accepted the rule of law. We are not led by a monarchy with a divine right to act above the law. We are not enslaved by a tyrant with an iron fist who rules by the whims of his own deviant desires. Neither do we take to the streets with "people-power" revolutions whenever we are not satisfied with the leaders we have. The United States essentially has a revolution every four years where the people change the leadership, or determine to continue with the current leadership, by the ballot box.
While there have been many attempts to copy or reproduce something similar to our government, most nations fail to repeat the success of the United States because of corrupt, power hungry leadership that defies the system. These "banana republics" always degenerate into self-destruction because the people have no foundation or moral conviction to live by the rule of law. Chaos ensues.
The principle of self-government was a key factor in the deliberations over our Constitution. Free people can get by with limited government if they have the integrity to govern themselves. Basically, when people live by the Golden Rule there is less crime and less need for excessive laws or government intrusion. But as John Adams wrote, this kind of government can only work for a religious and moral people. It can work for none else.
The religion and morality he was referring to was the Christian religion and the principles found in the Bible. James Madison declared that the Founders had created a government based on the Ten Commandments and the New Testament. Self-government works when people love God and have the conviction to live by God's standards, and when they love their neighbors as themselves. The only place you find this kind of religious or moral teaching is in the Bible.
America today is facing a crisis more profound, I think, than even many conservatives realize. We have left our Bible foundation far behind. The love of God is forgotten and the love of neighbor, or the brotherhood of man which the liberals so piously intone, is rejected for the selfish greed of personal aggrandizement. A government usurping powers never intended for it by the Founders has created a welfare system that has made a generation of Americans not only dependent on the government, but demanding rights, privileges, and wealth the government cannot give.
Liberals infamously call the 1980's the decade of greed, but we are seeing greed in an unprecedented scale right now. For the last four years we have seen representative government callously mock the people it represents, passing legislation such as Obamacare that at least two-thirds or more of the country opposes. It is spending more money than even the world can afford to loan us, and surprise, when anyone suggests we have to cut back, the greedy, welfare dependent society that this government run amuck has created starts having a temper tantrum.
Further complicating the matter, we have a president who has declared he will no longer govern by the rule of law. The president has usurped the authority of the judicial branch to declare the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress and signed by former president, Bill Clinton, unconstitutional. His government will no longer defend this law. In other words, he is presuming to do the Judiciary's job for it, while he reneges on doing his own job. The question that needs to be asked is, if he can get away with this, how many other laws will he also ignore? (For starters, how about his failure to defend the Arizona border and prosecute illegal aliens?)
The president is thumbing his nose at the Constitution. He is telling us that the law doesn't matter. His "Organizing for America" has made Wisconsin a battle ground and is instigating labor unions, which represent less than 13% of the total work force, and which poured hundreds of millions of their mandatory union dues into Democrat campaign coffers in the last election, to take to the streets and protest, to demand their rights, and to perpetuate their greed. The president is leading the country in a mad descent from constitutional government to mob rule. (Have we heard any more comparisons to Ronald Reagan lately?)
In Wisconsin, a budgetary crisis led newly elected Governor Scott Walker to take measures designed to save the state from bankruptcy. The state is 3.6 billion dollars in debt, even though it's previous Democrat governor received 4 billion dollars in stimulus money from Obama in the previous two years. Walker's attempt to save the state from going bankrupt resulted in a strike by the union cry-babies, which is spreading to other states.
Walker has an opportunity now to show himself truly Reaganesque. In 1981 when the air traffic controllers went on strike, President Reagan gave them 48 hours to return to work, then fired those who didn't and dissolved PATCO, their union organization. Walker ought to give Wisconsin state employees, including public school teachers, 48 hours to return to work, then sack those who don't. The strike will break up when the rent comes due and no paychecks are forth coming.
The nation is watching: Liberals to see if they can get away with defying the law and entrenching themselves in entitlements forever, or until the government declares bankruptcy; Conservatives to see if the rule of law will be upheld and some common sense returned to government. Conservatives are looking for another Ronald Reagan. If Scott Walker handles this crisis right he could be perceived to be the man to fill Reagan's shoes, and it could be the catalyst to propel him to the White House.
That will happen, by the way, not when the mobs rule the streets, but when the Constitution is followed and a new election is held according to the rule of law.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Disaster of Our Time
I always find it interesting to watch news media and pundits trying to outdo each other in predicting what political trends will happen next and how the world will be affected. A few years ago one author wrote a book to prove that the 2008 presidential election would be Hilary vs. Condoleeza Rice. Boy, did he get it wrong. It never seems to bother these people, they keep making their predictions and they usually keep missing the target. I'm not a prophet and I won't pretend to be as smart as these prophetic pundits, but it is pretty obvious that if some changes aren't made fast our country will be in big trouble.
We are beginning to see what could be a crisis of world-wide proportions across the Middle East. Tunisia, Algeria, and Bahrain are being crippled by strikes and rioters. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarrack has already been forced to resign, and in Libya, the longest ruling despot in the region, Moammar Khadaffi, is facing the test of his life to see whether he'll survive as ruler of that country. Libya's oil output has already declined by 20% since this uprising started, and as more foreign companies shut down operations in Libya it will only grow worse, driving up oil prices around the world.
A bigger problem is that the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization, appears to be behind some of these uprisings, and positioning themselves to take over. If this anti-American group gets control of the oil rich Arab nations and shuts off oil exports to the United States, our economy could be crippled over night. That's probably not likely to happen because these oil rich Arab nations depend almost solely on oil for their wealth. But they could tighten production like OPEC did three years ago and drive prices higher, possibly as high as the seven dollars a gallon candidate Obama told us we should get ready for.
This would plunge America into an unprecedented economic crisis. The country needs gasoline and diesel fuels to keep trucks on the road and freight trains on the rails. Not to mention the every day driver like you and me. When the price of fuel sky-rockets, the price of consumer goods follows, and when the prices get too high, people won't be buying, the economy will be falling, and unemployment will be rising again.
It has never been more clear why we need an energy policy that will make us independent of foreign oil. Forget the Department of Energy. That ugly monstrosity in 34 years has consumed hundreds of billions of dollars and to date hasn't produced one gallon of a feasible alternative fuel, neither has it made us independent of foreign oil, which is its whole purpose for existence. We use more foreign oil now than when the department was created.
Forget the environment. We've already taken better care of ours than all the rest of the world combined. We're not going to destroy anything by drilling for our own oil in our own territory, be it off shore or in Alaska.
The problem is we have a government filled with a bunch of cowards unwilling to stand up to the lunacy of special interest groups and tell them to go home. In 2003, President Bush tried to have the Alaskan wilderness opened for drilling. Republicans controlled the Congress and for the first time in decades had a chance to do something right for the country. Instead, a group of RINO's voted with the Democrats to block Bush's legislation.
Environmentalists argue that it would take at least ten years for newly found oil to be drilled, refined and finally put into production anyway, so why bother. Why bother? If drilling had begun in 2003, it would be available at local gas stations within another two years, and the current crisis would be curtailed. Oh wait, if gas prices were about to drop below a dollar a gallon by the 2012 election, Obama would take the credit for it and probably get re-elected. Maybe the environmentalists have done us a favor after all.
Now as we face an economic disaster, the president can't make up his mind what to do in the Middle East. He failed to support the recent popular uprising in Iran which could have removed an insane, tyrannical regime, but now supports the uprising in Egypt that overthrew our best ally in the Arab world. Worse than that, he is apparently supporting the union uprisings in Wisconsin and Indiana, ultimately promoting the same kind of chaos going on in the Middle East here in America. At a time when he should be using his bully pulpit to try and bring calm and unity to an increasingly divided nation, he is helping drive the wedge of division deeper into the heart of the country.
What we are seeing more and more is a president with no clue on foreign affairs, no clue on domestic policy, no clue on economics, and apparently only a plan to ignore the Constitution, to rule like a dictator, and to drive America into the poor house.
What a pathetic contrast to our first and greatest president, George Washington. How far the character of the most important office in the world has fallen. Washington was a man of such integrity that there was nothing anyone could point to that would have made him ashamed. Obama is a man whose best quality is duplicity for which he is unashamed.
We are sitting on the brink of an economic disaster of monumental proportions, yet the disaster of our time is more than just economic. It is a disaster of week-kneed leadership that will destroy this country if we do not vote out the current administration in the next election. More than that, the disaster of our time is a moral and spiritual disaster of a people that have forgotten the Christian principles and the God of their Founding Fathers, and that is illustrated no better than by the man sitting in the White House.
We are beginning to see what could be a crisis of world-wide proportions across the Middle East. Tunisia, Algeria, and Bahrain are being crippled by strikes and rioters. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarrack has already been forced to resign, and in Libya, the longest ruling despot in the region, Moammar Khadaffi, is facing the test of his life to see whether he'll survive as ruler of that country. Libya's oil output has already declined by 20% since this uprising started, and as more foreign companies shut down operations in Libya it will only grow worse, driving up oil prices around the world.
A bigger problem is that the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization, appears to be behind some of these uprisings, and positioning themselves to take over. If this anti-American group gets control of the oil rich Arab nations and shuts off oil exports to the United States, our economy could be crippled over night. That's probably not likely to happen because these oil rich Arab nations depend almost solely on oil for their wealth. But they could tighten production like OPEC did three years ago and drive prices higher, possibly as high as the seven dollars a gallon candidate Obama told us we should get ready for.
This would plunge America into an unprecedented economic crisis. The country needs gasoline and diesel fuels to keep trucks on the road and freight trains on the rails. Not to mention the every day driver like you and me. When the price of fuel sky-rockets, the price of consumer goods follows, and when the prices get too high, people won't be buying, the economy will be falling, and unemployment will be rising again.
It has never been more clear why we need an energy policy that will make us independent of foreign oil. Forget the Department of Energy. That ugly monstrosity in 34 years has consumed hundreds of billions of dollars and to date hasn't produced one gallon of a feasible alternative fuel, neither has it made us independent of foreign oil, which is its whole purpose for existence. We use more foreign oil now than when the department was created.
Forget the environment. We've already taken better care of ours than all the rest of the world combined. We're not going to destroy anything by drilling for our own oil in our own territory, be it off shore or in Alaska.
The problem is we have a government filled with a bunch of cowards unwilling to stand up to the lunacy of special interest groups and tell them to go home. In 2003, President Bush tried to have the Alaskan wilderness opened for drilling. Republicans controlled the Congress and for the first time in decades had a chance to do something right for the country. Instead, a group of RINO's voted with the Democrats to block Bush's legislation.
Environmentalists argue that it would take at least ten years for newly found oil to be drilled, refined and finally put into production anyway, so why bother. Why bother? If drilling had begun in 2003, it would be available at local gas stations within another two years, and the current crisis would be curtailed. Oh wait, if gas prices were about to drop below a dollar a gallon by the 2012 election, Obama would take the credit for it and probably get re-elected. Maybe the environmentalists have done us a favor after all.
Now as we face an economic disaster, the president can't make up his mind what to do in the Middle East. He failed to support the recent popular uprising in Iran which could have removed an insane, tyrannical regime, but now supports the uprising in Egypt that overthrew our best ally in the Arab world. Worse than that, he is apparently supporting the union uprisings in Wisconsin and Indiana, ultimately promoting the same kind of chaos going on in the Middle East here in America. At a time when he should be using his bully pulpit to try and bring calm and unity to an increasingly divided nation, he is helping drive the wedge of division deeper into the heart of the country.
What we are seeing more and more is a president with no clue on foreign affairs, no clue on domestic policy, no clue on economics, and apparently only a plan to ignore the Constitution, to rule like a dictator, and to drive America into the poor house.
What a pathetic contrast to our first and greatest president, George Washington. How far the character of the most important office in the world has fallen. Washington was a man of such integrity that there was nothing anyone could point to that would have made him ashamed. Obama is a man whose best quality is duplicity for which he is unashamed.
We are sitting on the brink of an economic disaster of monumental proportions, yet the disaster of our time is more than just economic. It is a disaster of week-kneed leadership that will destroy this country if we do not vote out the current administration in the next election. More than that, the disaster of our time is a moral and spiritual disaster of a people that have forgotten the Christian principles and the God of their Founding Fathers, and that is illustrated no better than by the man sitting in the White House.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Christian Atheists?
In a recent article political columnist Mike Adams writes about Two Kinds of Atheists. He describes one as being an "unbelieving" atheist. The unbeliever is generally a reasonable person who may have never had any religious influence on his life and has accepted the secular humanist view of life without God, that religion and logic don't mix. He is content in his belief and doesn't worry about what anyone thinks. He is reasonably and logically wrong, of course, but he is one who can discuss his belief, or lack of belief, rationally.
The other kind is the "evangelistic" atheist. This type belongs to the ACLU or any number of other atheist organizations, and is on a warpath to destroy everyone's belief in God. These people write books like The Da Vinci Code to deliberately slander and debunk the Bible. They are irrational in their hatred of God and unable to carry on a logical discussion of the issues. They would rather shout down their opponents than let their opponents have an opportunity to speak.
Interestingly enough, these atheists are not concerned about the gods of Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion. Their vitriol is focused on only one God. Their attempts to disprove what nature itself proves without doubt are only against Jesus Christ, which exposes their intent as being more than just a quest for the truth, but a concerted effort to destroy Christianity.
The unbelieving atheist is sometimes a political conservative. The evangelistic atheist is always a liberal. Adam's concludes that conservative atheists need to wake up, because "a godless conservatism is only one election away from extinction."
What I found even more interesting than the article was a comment in the debate section below by a man claiming to be a Christian atheist. He described himself as a conservative who believed the Bible, but quoted several passages from the prophet Isaiah which he claimed proved there is no God. His belief is in Christ the man, not Christ the Son of God. His denial of the deity of Christ puts him in the category of a Christian cult, much like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons. By misquoting and misinterpreting Scripture The Jehovah's Witnesses deny that Jesus Christ is God. Likewise, the Mormons, with an exceptionally twisted theology, believe that Christ became God just like you and I can become God. They do not believe in the eternal deity of Christ or the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
This Christian atheist, however, is a first for me. It's not only a contradiction in terms, but is so illogical that it is hard to believe a reasonable person could hold the view. The man says he believes in the conservative values of family and brotherhood of man. He's for fiscal responsibility, reducing the debt and a free market economy over socialism. He wants to defund the pornographic National Endowment for the Arts because it is evil and bad morality.
But herein lies the problem. Without God there is no morality. There is no foundation for the family. There is no reason to assume there is a better way to live than the NEA's porno view of the world. True atheism seeks to destroy the family and all that is moral, because nothing is evil if there is not a Good Creator.
An atheist cannot be a Christian no matter how much of the Bible he may accept as true. At the heart of Christianity is belief and faith in the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The very name, Christian, means "one who is a follower of Christ." No one who denies His deity can be a true follower, and therefore cannot claim the title of Christian.
Furthermore, a true atheist, no matter how patriotic he may be, will never fully understand the nature of our Constitution or the intent of our Founding Fathers. He will never be able to come to grips with the fact that our American heritage is a Christian heritage, based on the providence of the Christian God. All that is good about America extends from that fact.
President John Adams wrote, "The doctrine of human equality is founded entirely in the Christian doctrine that we are all children of the same Father, all accountable to Him for our conduct to one another, all equally bound to respect each other's self love."
That America is the world's beneficiary nation comes from its faith in the Christian God and the doctrines of the Bible. Everywhere in our founding documents and in the writings of the Founders we find the same thing. On November 22, 1800, Congress convened in joint session in the new, not yet completed, capitol building in the new, not yet completed Washington, D.C. Adams stood to speak for the last time as president of the nation, and his first comment was this:
"It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring His blessing."
An unbelieving politically conservative atheist, who thinks reasonably, needs to think his beliefs through logically and come to the understanding that the entire conservative movement is a reflection of the Christian beliefs of our Founders. Without a Christian base and a belief in God, conservatism has no foundation and cannot survive. Neither can there be such a person as a Christian atheist.
The other kind is the "evangelistic" atheist. This type belongs to the ACLU or any number of other atheist organizations, and is on a warpath to destroy everyone's belief in God. These people write books like The Da Vinci Code to deliberately slander and debunk the Bible. They are irrational in their hatred of God and unable to carry on a logical discussion of the issues. They would rather shout down their opponents than let their opponents have an opportunity to speak.
Interestingly enough, these atheists are not concerned about the gods of Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion. Their vitriol is focused on only one God. Their attempts to disprove what nature itself proves without doubt are only against Jesus Christ, which exposes their intent as being more than just a quest for the truth, but a concerted effort to destroy Christianity.
The unbelieving atheist is sometimes a political conservative. The evangelistic atheist is always a liberal. Adam's concludes that conservative atheists need to wake up, because "a godless conservatism is only one election away from extinction."
What I found even more interesting than the article was a comment in the debate section below by a man claiming to be a Christian atheist. He described himself as a conservative who believed the Bible, but quoted several passages from the prophet Isaiah which he claimed proved there is no God. His belief is in Christ the man, not Christ the Son of God. His denial of the deity of Christ puts him in the category of a Christian cult, much like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons. By misquoting and misinterpreting Scripture The Jehovah's Witnesses deny that Jesus Christ is God. Likewise, the Mormons, with an exceptionally twisted theology, believe that Christ became God just like you and I can become God. They do not believe in the eternal deity of Christ or the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
This Christian atheist, however, is a first for me. It's not only a contradiction in terms, but is so illogical that it is hard to believe a reasonable person could hold the view. The man says he believes in the conservative values of family and brotherhood of man. He's for fiscal responsibility, reducing the debt and a free market economy over socialism. He wants to defund the pornographic National Endowment for the Arts because it is evil and bad morality.
But herein lies the problem. Without God there is no morality. There is no foundation for the family. There is no reason to assume there is a better way to live than the NEA's porno view of the world. True atheism seeks to destroy the family and all that is moral, because nothing is evil if there is not a Good Creator.
An atheist cannot be a Christian no matter how much of the Bible he may accept as true. At the heart of Christianity is belief and faith in the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The very name, Christian, means "one who is a follower of Christ." No one who denies His deity can be a true follower, and therefore cannot claim the title of Christian.
Furthermore, a true atheist, no matter how patriotic he may be, will never fully understand the nature of our Constitution or the intent of our Founding Fathers. He will never be able to come to grips with the fact that our American heritage is a Christian heritage, based on the providence of the Christian God. All that is good about America extends from that fact.
President John Adams wrote, "The doctrine of human equality is founded entirely in the Christian doctrine that we are all children of the same Father, all accountable to Him for our conduct to one another, all equally bound to respect each other's self love."
That America is the world's beneficiary nation comes from its faith in the Christian God and the doctrines of the Bible. Everywhere in our founding documents and in the writings of the Founders we find the same thing. On November 22, 1800, Congress convened in joint session in the new, not yet completed, capitol building in the new, not yet completed Washington, D.C. Adams stood to speak for the last time as president of the nation, and his first comment was this:
"It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring His blessing."
An unbelieving politically conservative atheist, who thinks reasonably, needs to think his beliefs through logically and come to the understanding that the entire conservative movement is a reflection of the Christian beliefs of our Founders. Without a Christian base and a belief in God, conservatism has no foundation and cannot survive. Neither can there be such a person as a Christian atheist.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Remembering Ronald Reagan
In the fall of 1996 I was working temporarily as a mail sorter for the US Post Office in Denver. The election was on the horizon and a representative of the Postal Union came around every night trying to encourage the workers to vote Democrat, because, he said, if Robert Dole wins the election the Republicans will change the Post Office and we will all lose our jobs. A Republican victory would take us back to the worst economy in fifty years like we had under Reagan.
First of all, I told him, I don't think that as a government union you are allowed to be partisan. Secondly, where did you hear the Republicans are going to change the Post Office? Last year the US Postal Service made a 6 billion dollar profit! Nobody in their right mind is going to change that, and there was nothing in the Republican platform about it. It is a flat out union lie. And third, what country were you living in during the 1980's. Reaganomics gave America its longest peacetime economic expansion in history. It was not the worst economy in fifty years, but the greatest economy we've ever had.
He looked at me dumbfounded and said, "I never heard that before."
"Of course you haven't," I replied, "because all you are is a Democrat union lackey and all you know is what your union boss tells you. If you'd take the time to study real history instead of swallowing liberal propaganda you might figure it out." He walked away in a fog, unable to give me a coherent answer, and never bothered me again.
That union representative's attitude was typical of Democrats and their left-wing media cohorts. For the last thirty years they have excoriated Reagan, calling him an "amiable dunce," claiming Nancy Reagan made all the decisions, accusing him of being senile or suffering from Alzheimer's long before he actually came down with the disease, and ridiculing him as the worst president we've ever had.
Then came Obama's State of the Union address two weeks ago. He was very "Reaganesque" the liberal media said. Really? What brought about the change? A month ago Reagan was the worst president in history. Now, all of a sudden, he was a man great enough for the media to compare their false "messiah" to. Except that, their false messiah doesn't begin to compare with the true man that Ronald Reagan was.
I saw Ronald Reagan in person one time. In 1980, on the campaign trail, he came to speak at Bob Jones University. I was sitting about ten seats over from the door where he entered the huge amphitorium on the campus. The seven thousand seat auditorium was filled to capacity with media representatives and dozens of cameras set up to one side of the stage. Reagan paused as he entered, taking in the enormity of the auditorium (I think his advance party failed to prepare him properly for the venue), and I had a chance to take a good look at him close up. He then moved to the platform and gave his stump speech.
I was already hooked, I'd been supporting him since the 1976 primaries, but if there had been any doubt, seeing him in person removed all questions. Reagan was my man, the man America needed. In fact, I believe he was the man God had prepared for the job.
Ronald Reagan grew up in Illinois, not poor, but probably lower middle class. His father was a drunk, his mother a Presbyterian, his best friend a black boy who had suffered from racial prejudices. With that humble beginning he lived the American dream, studying hard and excelling in high school, working his way through college, becoming a radio announcer, and finally eking out a living in Hollywood until he became a major star.
World War II interrupted his career. He joined the Army and was promoted to captain, but extremely poor eyesight prevented him from going into combat. Instead, because of his movie background, he was placed in the intelligence community where he examined photos and film, and where he became aware of the horrible, inhumane atrocities going on in Europe long before they were revealed to the public. It prepared him for the next stage of his life, a forty-five year personal war against communism.
It was not a war without casualties. His life was threatened. He slept with a gun under his pillow every night. It cost him his first marriage.
Reagan had been an FDR Democrat, but in the 1950's he began to see, as he traveled the country representing General Electric, the damage and hardship increasing taxes were putting on average Americans. He grew weary of the Cold War doctrine of appeasement that had us doing "duck and cover" drills in school and left the world in fear of nuclear holocaust.
He changed parties and his 1964 speech, A Time for Choosing, at the 1964 Republican convention started him on a political journey that would change the world. After two successful terms as governor of California, he set his eyes on the presidency and in 1981, at the age of 69, he took the oath of office.
America was in a deep recession, a "malaise," according to Jimmy Carter. Under Carter taxes went up, inflation went up, interest rates went up, and his only answer was we had to learn to live with it. Reagan had a greater vision for America and his tax cuts reversed the recession and led to six years of economic growth. And let us remember, the economic success of the Clinton years was not due to raising taxes and putting more burden on the American people. Bush I raised taxes and brought on a recession. It ended after the Republican Revolution of 1994 which forced Clinton to stop trying to socialize the economy and return to "Reaganomics."
Reagan restored a sense of honor to America. He formally welcomed home the forgotten Vietnam veterans, then built up the military in a pre-determined effort to defeat the Soviet Union by spending them to death. He had the courage to call the communist regime an "evil empire," and tell Gorbachev at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to "tear down this wall." His strategy worked. The Soviet economy collapsed, Eastern Europe was freed and threw out their communist leaders, and in 1991 the Soviet Union died. The Cold War was over. Reagan had changed the world.
More than his accomplishments, however, Reagan's greatness lies in his personality. He never forgot his humble origins. He never looked down upon anybody. He treated everyone with the same kindness and respect that he treated those he loved. Even his political enemies, such as Tip O'Neil, and media enemies like Sam Donaldson, found in him a gracious, likable man. He had the ability to make Americans feel good about themselves.
He connected with Americans because he was not an elitist who thought he was better than anyone else. He spoke what average, hard working Americans were thinking. He was not afraid to go against political correctness to tell the truth. Was he perfect? No. Did his administration have problems? Yes. But he understood better than any president since Washington the value of Washington's admonition that "honesty is the best policy."
Edmund Morris was Reagan's official biographer. His publication, Dutch, was not well received because of the style in which it was written, but Morris had the opportunity to sit in the oval office and interview Reagan on a regular basis for many months or years. After his book was published he said in an interview that Reagan was simply the most honest person he had ever known.
Ronald Reagan not only loved America, he believed in America. He never felt it necessary to apologize for our greatness. Rather, he understood what liberal politicians never will, that this country is God's gift to the world; that Americans have done more to bring about peace and a better world than any other people in history. In a televised speech on March 31, 1976, during his primary campaign against Gerald Ford, Reagan said the following:
We're Americans and we have a rendezvous with destiny.... No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans - the Americans living in this land today. There isn't any problem we can't solve if government will give us the facts. Tell us what needs to be done. Then, get out of the way and let us have at it.
Today is the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. We would do well to remember the truth about the man, his message, and his vision for America. Reagan was America's greatest president of the 20th century, and ranks with Washington and Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents of all.
Happy Birthday President Reagan. You are not forgotten. Your legacy will be remembered throughout all time.
First of all, I told him, I don't think that as a government union you are allowed to be partisan. Secondly, where did you hear the Republicans are going to change the Post Office? Last year the US Postal Service made a 6 billion dollar profit! Nobody in their right mind is going to change that, and there was nothing in the Republican platform about it. It is a flat out union lie. And third, what country were you living in during the 1980's. Reaganomics gave America its longest peacetime economic expansion in history. It was not the worst economy in fifty years, but the greatest economy we've ever had.
He looked at me dumbfounded and said, "I never heard that before."
"Of course you haven't," I replied, "because all you are is a Democrat union lackey and all you know is what your union boss tells you. If you'd take the time to study real history instead of swallowing liberal propaganda you might figure it out." He walked away in a fog, unable to give me a coherent answer, and never bothered me again.
That union representative's attitude was typical of Democrats and their left-wing media cohorts. For the last thirty years they have excoriated Reagan, calling him an "amiable dunce," claiming Nancy Reagan made all the decisions, accusing him of being senile or suffering from Alzheimer's long before he actually came down with the disease, and ridiculing him as the worst president we've ever had.
Then came Obama's State of the Union address two weeks ago. He was very "Reaganesque" the liberal media said. Really? What brought about the change? A month ago Reagan was the worst president in history. Now, all of a sudden, he was a man great enough for the media to compare their false "messiah" to. Except that, their false messiah doesn't begin to compare with the true man that Ronald Reagan was.
I saw Ronald Reagan in person one time. In 1980, on the campaign trail, he came to speak at Bob Jones University. I was sitting about ten seats over from the door where he entered the huge amphitorium on the campus. The seven thousand seat auditorium was filled to capacity with media representatives and dozens of cameras set up to one side of the stage. Reagan paused as he entered, taking in the enormity of the auditorium (I think his advance party failed to prepare him properly for the venue), and I had a chance to take a good look at him close up. He then moved to the platform and gave his stump speech.
I was already hooked, I'd been supporting him since the 1976 primaries, but if there had been any doubt, seeing him in person removed all questions. Reagan was my man, the man America needed. In fact, I believe he was the man God had prepared for the job.
Ronald Reagan grew up in Illinois, not poor, but probably lower middle class. His father was a drunk, his mother a Presbyterian, his best friend a black boy who had suffered from racial prejudices. With that humble beginning he lived the American dream, studying hard and excelling in high school, working his way through college, becoming a radio announcer, and finally eking out a living in Hollywood until he became a major star.
World War II interrupted his career. He joined the Army and was promoted to captain, but extremely poor eyesight prevented him from going into combat. Instead, because of his movie background, he was placed in the intelligence community where he examined photos and film, and where he became aware of the horrible, inhumane atrocities going on in Europe long before they were revealed to the public. It prepared him for the next stage of his life, a forty-five year personal war against communism.
It was not a war without casualties. His life was threatened. He slept with a gun under his pillow every night. It cost him his first marriage.
Reagan had been an FDR Democrat, but in the 1950's he began to see, as he traveled the country representing General Electric, the damage and hardship increasing taxes were putting on average Americans. He grew weary of the Cold War doctrine of appeasement that had us doing "duck and cover" drills in school and left the world in fear of nuclear holocaust.
He changed parties and his 1964 speech, A Time for Choosing, at the 1964 Republican convention started him on a political journey that would change the world. After two successful terms as governor of California, he set his eyes on the presidency and in 1981, at the age of 69, he took the oath of office.
America was in a deep recession, a "malaise," according to Jimmy Carter. Under Carter taxes went up, inflation went up, interest rates went up, and his only answer was we had to learn to live with it. Reagan had a greater vision for America and his tax cuts reversed the recession and led to six years of economic growth. And let us remember, the economic success of the Clinton years was not due to raising taxes and putting more burden on the American people. Bush I raised taxes and brought on a recession. It ended after the Republican Revolution of 1994 which forced Clinton to stop trying to socialize the economy and return to "Reaganomics."
Reagan restored a sense of honor to America. He formally welcomed home the forgotten Vietnam veterans, then built up the military in a pre-determined effort to defeat the Soviet Union by spending them to death. He had the courage to call the communist regime an "evil empire," and tell Gorbachev at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to "tear down this wall." His strategy worked. The Soviet economy collapsed, Eastern Europe was freed and threw out their communist leaders, and in 1991 the Soviet Union died. The Cold War was over. Reagan had changed the world.
More than his accomplishments, however, Reagan's greatness lies in his personality. He never forgot his humble origins. He never looked down upon anybody. He treated everyone with the same kindness and respect that he treated those he loved. Even his political enemies, such as Tip O'Neil, and media enemies like Sam Donaldson, found in him a gracious, likable man. He had the ability to make Americans feel good about themselves.
He connected with Americans because he was not an elitist who thought he was better than anyone else. He spoke what average, hard working Americans were thinking. He was not afraid to go against political correctness to tell the truth. Was he perfect? No. Did his administration have problems? Yes. But he understood better than any president since Washington the value of Washington's admonition that "honesty is the best policy."
Edmund Morris was Reagan's official biographer. His publication, Dutch, was not well received because of the style in which it was written, but Morris had the opportunity to sit in the oval office and interview Reagan on a regular basis for many months or years. After his book was published he said in an interview that Reagan was simply the most honest person he had ever known.
Ronald Reagan not only loved America, he believed in America. He never felt it necessary to apologize for our greatness. Rather, he understood what liberal politicians never will, that this country is God's gift to the world; that Americans have done more to bring about peace and a better world than any other people in history. In a televised speech on March 31, 1976, during his primary campaign against Gerald Ford, Reagan said the following:
We're Americans and we have a rendezvous with destiny.... No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans - the Americans living in this land today. There isn't any problem we can't solve if government will give us the facts. Tell us what needs to be done. Then, get out of the way and let us have at it.
Today is the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. We would do well to remember the truth about the man, his message, and his vision for America. Reagan was America's greatest president of the 20th century, and ranks with Washington and Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents of all.
Happy Birthday President Reagan. You are not forgotten. Your legacy will be remembered throughout all time.
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