Farewell President Reagan

Ronald Reagan is arguably the most loved and revered modern President. Yet, in intellectual circles on the Left, he is widely dismissed as – in Clark Clifford’s famous phrase – “an amiable dunce.”

Yes, this is the same Clark Clifford, one of the Democrats' "wise men" who acted as a front man for Middle Eastern crooks and after becoming embroiled in the BCC banking scandal, pled old age and senility to escape a jail term.

So why was Reagan viewed by Washington sophisticates as stupid? The reason is actually so simple that it is virtually always overlooked: he disagreed with the conventional Washington wisdom. It is a natural human emotion to assume that people who disagree with us on fundamental issues are wrong. And if they continue to disagree with us after we have explained to them why they are wrong, they must be stupid. The other alternative is that they are evil.

Reagan did not believe that communism was merely another economic choice. He believed that we could prevail over the “evil empire.” He did not believe that high taxes led to economic well-being. He did not subscribe to the notion that every problem called for a governmental solution. Despite protestations to the contrary today, these were widely held beliefs when Reagan became President. In fact they are held by the Kerry/Dean/Gore/Kennedy wing of the Democratic party today and are taught as gospel on America’s campuses.

What is especially galling to his enemies is that he succeeded spectacularly, tearing down the Berlin Wall, ending the Soviet Union, freeing Eastern Europe, defeating communist expansion in Central America and ushering in a decade of spectacular economic growth at home.

The “Reagan was stupid” camp has convinced itself, in a bout of historical revisionism, that the country was united against Communism; that the fall of the Soviet Union was inevitable and Reagan had the dumb luck to be around when the fall occurred. Their message during this period of official mourning is that Reagan was “The Great Communicator;” an actor playing a part who got lucky.

The importance of luck was illustrated by two hillbillies playing poker. Big Joe Bob has a real good hand, so he raises. Li'l Clem has a daisy, too, so he sees and raises. Back and forth it goes. Finally, Joe Bob calls. Clem spreads his cards, grins broadly, and says, "I got me four aces!" He reaches for the pot. "Jest a minute," says Joe Bob. His hand goes to his boot and brings up something long and shiny. "I got me this right sharp knife." The color drains from Clem's face. Then he recovers, shakes his head, and laughs. "Doggone you, Joe Bob," he says. "You're the luckiest feller I ever seen!"

The “Reagan was evil” camp is represented by people like Henry Fairlie, who, in the Washington Post, writing on the Republican convention in 1980:
"The Reaganites on the floor were exactly those who in Germany gave the Nazis their main strength and who in France collaborated with them and sustained Vichy.” Fairlie was just warming up; adding that Reagan’s constituency was “narrow minded, book banning, truth censoring, mean spirited; ungenerous, envious, intolerant, afraid; chicken, bullying; trivially moral, falsely patriotic, family cheapening, flag cheapening, God cheapening; the common man, shallow, small, sanctimonious.”

Of course that was when Reagan was very much alive. Now that he is dead, we have Danny Glover, the actor who adores Fidel Castro and every other communist dictator: "We all know Ronald Reagan's legacy, from the Iran-Contra affair to the funding of the Nicaraguan military in which over 200,000 people died. The groundwork for the move steadily to the right happened with the Reagan administration. People want to elevate him to some mythic level, they have their own reason for doing that."

Many a moral monster has surrounded himself with glittering friends. They can be deceiving. If you want to know about a man’s soul, look at his enemies. If Danny Glover is your enemy, you are my friend.

The American people are blessed to have had Ronald Reagan as its leader at a critical juncture in history. When he came into office communism was on the march, the Ayatollahs held our embassy staff hostage, inflation was rampant and Jimmy Carter could not buy a clue. Commentators were opining that the job of President hat gotten beyond the capacity of any one man. It was certainly beyond the capacity of Mr. Carter.

When Reagan left office, the USSR was on the verge of collapse, the economy was booming and confidence had been restored in the ability, and the essential goodness, of the American experiment. And he did it all with unfailing good humor and by never listening to the advice of the New York Times.

As we remember Ronald Reagan, let us not mourn him. Let us instead celebrate his life. His eternal spirit has been released from his body, his family has been freed from a terrible burden, and we can rejoice in the fact that he has left the world a better place than he found it. Thank you Ronald Reagan.