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Ronald Reagan
Retrospective - Part II
After Weekend
Of Remembrances Of The Reagan Presidency And The D-Day Heroes, We Felt
Good About Ourselves Again: Stock Market Popped Nearly 150 Points
The Shining City On The Hill
- The stock market (The Great American Dream Machine) paid another tribute today to Ronald Wilson Reagan
and also made the connection with the D-Day heroes with a gain of nearly 150 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
They
Made Us Feel Good About The Possibilities
The market followed the cascade of remembrance over the weekend that
reminded us how good Reagan made us feel about ourselves, and blended
flawlessly with our pride in the patriots who were back at the scene of the
great generational gamble in Normandy exactly sixty years ago where
they helped preserve the things we take for granted in anno domini
2004.
French Are Grateful, Too
The French president showed up in Normandy and reminded us that his is
a grateful nation that has never shrunk from fighting relentlessly to
the last American, and will do so again when the opportunity arises.
Supply Side Of Common Sense
Ronald Reagan never took his eye off the ball - or compromised for a
minute the basic components of his economic and foreign policy
programs that were all based on the supply side of common sense.
Berlin Wall And The Evil Empire
That's why the Evil Empire (the one in Russia) fell apart when it did;
that's why the Berlin Wall came down when it did.
Reagan Taught Them Several Important Economic Lessons,
But Did the Establishment Learn Anything?
That's why establishmentarian theorists had to be taught several important
economic lessons in the early 1980's; and that's why the basic
prosperity Reagan gave us has lasted for more than twenty years
despite the best efforts of his presidential successors to screw it up.
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Alan
Greenspan |
Greenspan Is Now The
Greatest
Living American
And,
that's why, after Reagan's departure on Saturday, Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan becomes the greatest living American.
Straight From The Declaration Of
Independence,
Reagan Said Freedom Is Its Own Justification
Reagan believed that freedom (including
economic freedom) is its own
justification, a belief that comes straight out of the litany of "self
evident" truths bequeathed to us by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in
the inspired document that will be 228 years old in a few weeks.
As Lincoln said, the inspiration for
constructive patriotism comes directly to us "from every patriot's
grave" directly into our hearts.
As Theodore Roosevelt said, the best
foreign policy is to "walk softly and carry a big stick."
Opportunity For Political Leaders To
Reflect
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President Abraham Lincoln |
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President Teddy Roosevelt
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The concurrence of Reagan's departure
and the 60th anniversary of the D-Day sacrifices present political
leaders all over the country, especially Republicans, with another opportunity to evaluate their
own performance as
reflected in the principles that guided the great Republican presidencies of Abraham
Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Reagan.
Morning In America Was Not Just A
Metaphor
Reagan made every American feel
important. When he talked about Morning in America and the Shining City On The
Hill, you knew these were not just metaphors to him.
Didn't Compromise On The Principles Of
1776
Reagan wanted to give you and me access,
a ticket to Rye and a passport to the possibilities of the promises of
our forbears; and
he didn't compromise on the basic principles of the 1776 revolution of
which he considered himself and each of us a part, card carrying
partners among millions of
legitimate heirs.
Burns, Fields & Reagan: Good Timing Is
"Everything"
Reagan was an actor, who said more than
once that the work of a communicator (and he was the best ever) was
enhanced by good timing which, he suggested along with George Burns
and W. C. Fields, was "everything."
"I Hear America Singing"
Through the maize of failures and
contradictions that were imbedded in the fabric and turmoil of the
1960's and 1970's, Ronald Reagan could sort it all out and, in
perpetuity, "hear America singing", in
Whitman's words (Walt, not Christie).
Carter Turned Off The Lights And Turned
Down The Heat
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Jimmy Carter |
During the energy crisis, Jimmy Carter
turned down the heat and turned the lights off in the White House,
never bothered to light even one candle, and continued to meekly curse
the darkness.
Reagan Turned Everything Back On
One of Reagan's first acts as president
was to turn the electricity back up to full power and to gently curse the
harbingers of darkness and the prophets of doom.
The new course set the stage for lights
to go back on around the world and in places that were formerly un-illuminated for
decades.
Freedom Is A Self-Fulfilling Proposition
Freedom is self fulfilling because it
leads to prosperity and progress. No one ever chooses to go back into
tyranny, Reagan said, echoing Lincoln's words about involuntary
servitude and bondage.
Principles For The Ages
Reagan said America should be a nation of values and
we should not be afraid to show those values to the rest of the
world. These were principles that should be everybody's principles:
they were principles for the ages, and Reagan knew it.
The Highest Approval Ratings In History
By the time he got through
communicating, everybody else knew it too, and they all respected him
for showing them the way.
He left the presidency with the highest
approval ratings of any president in history.
This article is
prepared for publication Monday, June 7th
Part III Of The Reagan Series Will
Be Published This Week
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