The Reagan Legacy

I am a conservative today because of Ronald Reagan. When I left home to attend the University of Texas in 1979, I considered myself to be a democrat because that is what black americans were. This bold, brave, determined leader made me open my eyes and take a real look at the value system that I was raised under. The way he cut taxes in the face of liberal complaining, the way he stood up to Communism, the way he beefed up the military and pumped up their morale, his optimism, his communication skills, all influenced me greatly.

His unapologetic approach to religion, pro-life issues, and economic empowerment were awesome. He was funny too, and had great one-liners: "Mr. Gorbacev, tear down this wall"; "There you go again"; "Any way you look at it, it is still the L word, L-I-B-E-R-A-L"; "Bombing begins in 5 minutes"

Ronnie, rest in Peace.

Ronald Reagan was a great man. The greatest president in my lifetime, and possably ever. He was the president that won the cold war. Young people today forget, or dont know, how dangerous and vile communism was. He had the guts to say what he meant about such things as abortion,gay marriage, religion, military strength, and other conservative issues. He brought the war on drugs into the backyeard of the enemy. I was in the military when he was elected and morale went thru the roof after we heard the news he was our new commander in chief. It was both funny and pathetic how all those nitwit liberals like to portray him as stupid. Yeah he was stupid all right, dumb as a fox.

He was also a very humane man. When the time came to talk peace and disarment he was ready to. On the home front he had compassion for the down and out and minorities. He wasnt interested in enslaveing millions in an endless circle of welfare.poverty, and crime. His interest was in getting folks a job, some self respect, and a better future for their children. In the end he was proven right. We are a conservative God fearing nation at heart. No matter how much the liberals shriek, and the liberal media reports their shrieks. Reagan was the originator of compassionate conservatism.

He was a great man, a great President. I dont much like politicians but he was one of the few I would have been honored to meet. Maybe one day I will. Rest in peace Mr. President............and thank you..................Rich

I admired his optimistic view on the American way of life and democracy. He always envisioned a bright tomorrow for the US! And he helped make it that way and ensure that it will be that way in the future. God bless Ron and his family!

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Originally Posted by Rich46yo

Ronald Reagan was a great man. The greatest president in my lifetime, and possably ever. He was the president that won the cold war. Young people today forget, or dont know, how dangerous and vile communism was. He had the guts to say what he meant about such things as abortion,gay marriage, religion, military strength, and other conservative issues. He brought the war on drugs into the backyeard of the enemy. I was in the military when he was elected and morale went thru the roof after we heard the news he was our new commander in chief. It was both funny and pathetic how all those nitwit liberals like to portray him as stupid. Yeah he was stupid all right, dumb as a fox.

He was also a very humane man. When the time came to talk peace and disarment he was ready to. On the home front he had compassion for the down and out and minorities. He wasnt interested in enslaveing millions in an endless circle of welfare.poverty, and crime. His interest was in getting folks a job, some self respect, and a better future for their children. In the end he was proven right. We are a conservative God fearing nation at heart. No matter how much the liberals shriek, and the liberal media reports their shrieks. Reagan was the originator of compassionate conservatism.

He was a great man, a great President. I dont much like politicians but he was one of the few I would have been honored to meet. Maybe one day I will. Rest in peace Mr. President............and thank you..................Rich

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I never voted for him, though I watched his political career grow during the Republican conventions of the 1960s. But he was a believeable President when he spoke to the public, and people at least felt that he was less scripted and more spontaneous in his remarks than many other leaders. He also knew how to talk to the nation and not always appear to be pandering to special interest groups.

I didn't agree with many of his policies, although as a Republican at the time, I supported smaller government and increased military spending. When he did make remarks about religion, they weren't grounded in extremist evangelical groups but framed to speak to everyone's spirituality, something missing from subsequent Republican administrations. I didn't like his policies deregulated utilities and the media, or the loss of the Fairness Doctrine. I don't recall him ever making remarks about gay marriage - it wasn't any kind of issue then - the growing AIDS epidemic was, and he wasn't responsive to that for too long - some 25,000 Americans died before he ever mentioned the word in a speech.

Still, every President makes mistakes - and his best legacy to the whole nation is that he seemed to try to avoid divisiveness once a campaign season was over and he could talk to the public without sounding as if he was trying to find people to persecute. He wasn't afraid to stand up for his principles, but it didn't often come across as trying to cultivate enemies.

It's sad that he spent the last decade suffering from Alzeimer's, but I have a lot of respect for his wife and family for caring for him and being there for every conscious moment he was able to hang onto and I hope his passing was peaceful.

Rich - I don't ever remember him talking about gay marriage - that was such a non-issue at the time. Although that particular group did not like him because of his handling of the AIDS epidemic, he was not unsupportive as California governor. As a product of Hollywood, I doubt his intolerance level was near the rhetorical tantrums we hear today on those issues. And although he was very much against communism, he still maintained the ability to see the difference between manufactured enemies and real ones - he was one who stood up to the McCarthy inquiries in the 1950's.

Interestingly, his daughter Patti Davis wrote a column about love and marriage in February of this year for Newsweek and MSNBC. In that article, she mentioned her parents love and devotion:

"Love and loss are twin souls; we don’t have to live too many years to learn that, but the longer we live the more often we are reminded. We watch our parents age and often sit by helplessly as one gets ill, and the other tends to them, nurses them, feels the collision of love and loss in every moment. On March 4th, my parents will have been married 52 years. But only my mother will be aware of it. Alzheimer’s has erased all those decades from my father’s memory.

If we never love deeply, we will never experience loss carving us up inside. Then again, if we never love deeply, we won’t live fully, completely, joyfully pushing out the boundaries of our hearts. Many of us juggle these two truths."

She goes on to say:

"The irony of our times is that the one group of people—gays— who passionately want to get married are slamming into a wall built of political concerns, legislative wrangling, right-wing religiosity (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), and oddly enraged TV pundits who seem to think the world will come to an end if two people of the same sex join in holy matrimony.
Whenever I hear about the furor over gay marriage, and whenever I step back and look at how tentative and wary we are about love (I’m including myself in that one) I wonder the same thing: What is it about love that frightens us so much? In the personal arena, the easy answer is, I suppose, loss. We wonder if we can survive the deep bruises to our hearts if our partner gets ill, or dies, or leaves. Solitude might be safer. Yet we see people surviving loss so we know it’s possible; the heart is a sturdy little muscle.
A woman I know sat at the bedside of a man dying from AIDS. He told her he didn’t think he’d accomplished much in his young life, and now he was dying. She said, “Did you love?” And he replied, “Oh, yes. I have loved deeply with all my heart.”

'Then you accomplished everything,' she said."

And this is perhaps one of the greatest compliments I can pay the former President. No matter how many times Nancy was accused of running the show, the occasional blunder over things like ketchup as a school lunch vegetable, the disagreements I would have over policies, no one should ever find fault in the example they set as a devoted, loving couple. From all accounts of his letters and his memoirs of his life, Reagan understood how important it was to nurture and maintain their love. I suspect in many ways this last decade has been painful and difficult for both of them and I hope this nation gives his widow the kind of respect and understanding and compassion she deserves. They accomplished everything.

A link to some great Reagan speeches:


http://www.georgewbush.com/

god bless ronald reagan..i admired his values and honesty and down-to-earth manner

He was one of two Republican presidents I voted for. I always thought Reagan was ahead of his time. He was somewhat libertarian in his views years before the party was formed. I think he respected women and shuddered at the senseless deaths that occurred with illegal abortion. He was the first governor to sign for legalized abortion after Roe vs Wade. Then, there were some of the toughest antipollution laws passed while he was governor of california.

As with any presidency, his was not perfect, with it's fair share of blunders and errors (all clear in hindsight, but not so clear at the time)... But I believe he acted for what he believed was in the best interests of the American People... and for that, I salute him. (There was the Iran Contra affair and perhaps some questionable policies dealing with Central America during his presidency and inaction with Saddam when he was gassing the Kurds in 1988. ) But once again, all clear in hind sight. Ronald Reagan was a patriot... A man who lived the American dream and exemplified the American way of life... He was a strong leader and a great man. Some people use his Alzheimer's against him (and he certainly was suffering the early stages of it during his last term) but it impressed upon me how he was able to overcome and preform despite the early hold of the disease. He exemplified how a President can be even more successful by choosing and surrounding himself with some of the most capable people and knew the intricate and difficult art of delegation (something that Jimmy Carter never learned which I felt was his downfall.)
He will be missed ... and I wish his wife and family all of the best in their time of despair.