Redstate

www.fred08.com
Redneck Hippie

You need to have lived through Ford and Carter First. The late Nixon years would have been useful as well.

We had a decade of disastrous administrations. Nixon's was beyond horrific and while not he made the best of the hand he was dealt the knives were out for him even before he got into office. He added to the problem with the economically disastrous wage and price controls, and expansion of the federal government. Then you follow on with ford who was to put it charitably ineffectual. Finally Carter comes into office. Lets see stagflation, panama canal, misery index, wearing a sweater to solve our energy crisis, Projecting the image of the American President as an idiotic bumpkin (If you watch the BBC that image is still prevalent and it still uses Jimmy's accent). Finally the depressing certainty that had come to pervade our public life that the Cold War was forever and intrinsically unwinnable.

Then along comes Ronald Reagan. He literally changed the world and for the better. Winning the cold war was just one of an endless list of accomplishments. Reminding Americans that our future was and is always in our own hands is perhaps the most important. That we can solve our own problems.

Anyway the hopeful optimistic America where things get better every day would not be here if it wasn't for President Reagan.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

http://www.redstate.com/blogs/pilgrim/2007/dec/15/my_3_top_choices_and_w...

There is a link there to a transcript of Reagan & Gorbachev.

Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.

How Ronald Reagan changed my life
Reagan's War
Reagan: A Life in Letters
Reagan In his own hand

Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
www.fred08.com

"Evil Empire"
The National Association of Evangelicals Annual Convention
Orlando, Florida on March 8, 1983

Reverend Clergy all, Senator Hawkins, distinguished members of the Florida congressional delegation, and all of you:

I can't tell you how you have warmed my heart with your welcome. I'm delighted to be here today.

Those of you in the National Association of Evangelicals are known for you spiritual and humanitarian work. And I would be especially remiss if I didn't discharge right now one personal debt of gratitude. Thank you for your prayers. Nancy and I have felt their presence many times in many years. And believe me, for us they've made all the difference.

The other day in the East Room of the White House at a meeting there, someone asked me whether I was aware of all the people out there who were praying for the President. And I had to say, "Yes, I am. I've felt it. I believe in intercessionary prayer." But I couldn't help but say to that questioner after he'd asked the question that - or at least say to them that if sometimes when he was praying he got a busy signal, it was just me in there ahead of him. [Laughter] I think I understand how Abraham Lincoln felt when he said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go." From the joy and the good feeling of this conference, I go to a political reception. [Laughter] Now, I don't know why, but that bit of scheduling reminds me of a story - [Laughter] - which I'll share with you.

An evangelical minister and a politician arrived at Heaven's gate one day together. And St. Peter, after doing all the necessary formalities, took them in hand to show them where their quarters would be. And he took them to a small, single room with a bed, a chair, and a table and said this was for the clergyman. And the politician was a little worried about what might be in store for him. And he couldn't believe it then when St. Peter stopped in front of a beautiful mansion with lovely grounds, many servants, and told him that these would be his quarters.

And he couldn't help but ask, he said, "But wait, how-there's something wrong - how do I get this mansion while that good and holy man only gets a single room?" And St. Peter said, "You have to understand how things are up here. We've got thousands and thousands of clergy. You're the first politician who ever made it." [Laughter]

But I don't want to contribute to a stereotype. [Laughter] So I tell you there are a great many God-fearing, dedicated, noble men and women in public life, present company included. And yes, we need your help to keep us ever mindful of the ideas and the principles that brought us into the public arena in the first place. The basis of those ideals and principles is a commitment to freedom and personal liberty that, itself, is grounded in the much deeper realization that freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted.

The American experiment in democracy rests on this insight. Its discovery was the great triumph of our Founding Fathers, voiced by William Penn when he said: "If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants." Explaining the inalienable rights of men, Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time." And it was George Washington who said that "of all the disposition and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supporters."

And finally, that shrewdest of all observers of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville, put it eloquently after he had gone on a search for the secret of America's greatness and genius - and he said: "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and the genius of America . . . America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

Well, I'm pleased to be here today with you who are keeping America great by keeping her good. Only through your work and prayers and those of millions of others cans we hope to survive this perilous century and keep alive this experiment in liberty, this last, best hope of man.

I want you to know that this administration is motivated by a political philosophy that sees the greatness of America in you, here people, and in your families, churches, neighborhoods, communities - the institutions that foster and nourish values like concern for others and respect for the rule of law under God.

Now, I don't have to tell you that this puts us in opposition to, or at least out of step with, a prevailing attitude of many who have turned to a modern-day secularism, discarding the tried and time-tested values upon which our very civilization is based. No matter how well intentioned, their value system is radically different from that of most Americans. And while they proclaim that they're freeing us from superstitions of the past, they've taken upon themselves the job of superintending us by government rule and regulation. Sometimes their voices are louder than ours, but they are not yet a majority.

An example of that vocal superiority is evident in a controversy now going on in Washington. And since I'm involved I've been waiting to hear from the parents of young America. How far are they willing to go in giving to government their prerogatives as parents?

Let me state the case as briefly and simply as I can. An organization of citizens, sincerely motivated and deeply concerned about the increase in illegitimate births and abortions involving girls well below the age of consent, some time ago established a nationwide network of clinics to offer help to these girls and, hopefully, alleviate this situation. Now, again, let me say, I do not fault their intent. However, in their well-intentioned effort, these clinics have decided to provide advice and birth control drugs and devices to underage girls without the knowledge of their parents.

For some years now, the federal government has helped with funds to subsidize these clinics. In providing for this, the Congress decreed that every effort would be made to maximize parental participation. Nevertheless, the drugs and devices are prescribed without getting parental consent or giving notification after they've done so. Girls termed "sexually active" - and that has replaced the word "promiscuous" - are given this help in order to prevent illegitimate birth or abortion.

Well, we have ordered clinics receiving federal funds to notify the parents such help has been given. One of the nation's leading newspapers has created the term "squeal rule" in editorializing against us for doing this, and we're being criticized for violating the privacy of young people. A judge has recently granted an injunction against an enforcement of our rule. I've watched TV panel shows discuss the issue, seen columnists pontificating on our error, but no one seems to mention morality as playing a part in the subject of sex.

Is all of Judeo-Christian tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so sacred can be looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential for emotional and psychological harm? And isn't it the parents' right to give counsel and advice to keep their children from making mistakes that may affect their entire lives?

Many of us in government would like to know what parents think about this intrusion in their family by government. We're going to fight in the courts. The right of parents and the rights of family take precedence over those of Washington-based bureaucrats and social engineers.

But the fight against parental notification is really only one example of many attempts to water down traditional values and even abrogate the original terms of American democracy. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. When our Founding Fathers passed the First Amendment, they sought to protect churches from government interference. They never intended to construct a wall of hostility between government and the concept of religious belief itself.

The evidence of this permeates our history and our government. The Declaration of Independence mentions the Supreme Being no less than four times. "In God We Trust" is engraved on our coinage. The Supreme Court opens its proceedings with a religious invocation. And the members of Congress open their sessions with a prayer. I just happen to believe the schoolchildren of the United States are entitled to the same privileges as Supreme Court justices and congressmen.

Last year, I sent the Congress a constitutional amendment to restore prayer to public schools. Already this session, there's growing bipartisan support for the amendment, and I am calling on the Congress to act speedily to pass it and to let our children pray.

Perhaps some of you read recently about the Lubbock school case, where a judge actually ruled that it was unconstitutional for a school district to give equal treatment to religious and nonreligious student groups, even when the group meetings were being held during the students' own time. The First Amendment never intended to require government to discriminate against religious speech.

Senators Denton and Hatfield have proposed legislation in the Congress on the whole question of prohibiting discrimination against religious forms of student speech. Such legislation could go far to restore freedom of religious speech for public school students. And I hope the Congress considers these bills quickly. And with you help, I think it's possible we could also get the constitutional amendment through the Congress this year.

More than a decade ago, a Supreme Court decision literally wiped off the books of fifty states statutes protecting the rights of unborn children. Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to one and a half million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will someday pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does. Unless and until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity, then its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must be protected.

You may remember that when abortion on demand began, many, and indeed, I'm sure many of you, warned that the practice would lead to a decline in respect for human life, that the philosophical premises used to justify abortion on demand would ultimately be used to justify other attacks on the sacredness of human life - infanticide or mercy killing. Tragically enough, those warnings proved all too true. Only last year a court permitted the death by starvation of a handicapped infant.

I have directed the Health and Human Services Department to make clear to every health care facility in the United States that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects all handicapped persons against discrimination based on handicaps, including infants. And we have taken the further step of requiring that each and every recipient of federal funds who provides health care services to infants must post and keep posted in a conspicuous place a notice stating that "discriminatory failure to feed and care for handicapped infants in this facility is prohibited by federal law." It also lists a twenty-four-hour, toll-free number so that nurses and others may report violations in time to save the infant's life.

In addition, recent legislation introduced in the Congress by Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois not only increases restrictions on publicly financed abortions, it also addresses this whole problem of infanticide. I urge the Congress to begin hearings and to adopt legislation that will protect the right of life to all children, including the disabled or handicapped.

Now, I'm sure that you must get discouraged at times, but you've done better than you know, perhaps. There's a great spiritual awakening in America, a renewal of the traditional values that have been the bedrock of America's goodness and greatness.

One recent survey by a Washington-based research council concluded that Americans were far more religious than the people of other nations; 95 percent of those surveyed expressed a belief in God and a huge majority believed the Ten Commandments had real meaning in their lives. And another study has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of adultery, teenage sex, pornography, abortion, and hard drugs. And this same study showed a deep reverence for the importance of family ties and religious belief.

I think the items that we've discussed here today must be a key part of the nation's political agenda. For the first time the Congress is openly and seriously debating and dealing with the prayer and abortion issues - and that's enormous progress right there. I repeat: America is in the midst of a spiritual awakening and a moral renewal. And with your biblical keynote, I say today, "Yes, let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream."

Now, obviously, much of this new political and social consensus I've talked about is based on a positive view of American history, one that takes pride in our country's accomplishments and record. But we must never forget that no government schemes are going to perfect man. We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin.

There is sin and evil in the world, and we're enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might. Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it must deal. The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For example, the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and civil war, is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back. There is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country.

I know that you've been horrified, as have I, by the resurgence of some hate groups preaching bigotry and prejudice. Use the mighty voice of your pulpits and the powerful standing of your churches to denounce and isolate these hate groups in our midst. The commandment given us is clear and simple: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

But whatever sad episodes exist in our past, any objective observer must hold a positive view of American history, a history that has been the story of hopes fulfilled and dreams made into reality. Especially in this century, America has kept alight the torch of freedom, but not just for ourselves but for millions of others around the world.

And this brings me to my final point today. During my first press conference as president, in answer to a direct question, I point out that, as good Marxist-Leninists, the Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution. I think I should point out I was only quoting Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas - that's their name for religion - or ideas that are outside class conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of class war. And everything is moral that is necessary for the annihilation of the old, exploiting social order and for uniting the proletariat.

Well, I think the refusal of many influential people to accept this elementary fact of Soviet doctrine illustrates a historical reluctance to see totalitarian powers for what they are. We saw this phenomenon in the 1930s. We see it too often today.

This doesn't mean we should isolate ourselves and refuse to seek an understanding with them. I intend to do everything I can to persuade them of our peaceful intent, to remind them that it was the West that refused to use its nuclear monopoly in the forties and fifties for territorial gain and which now proposes a 50-percent cut in strategic ballistic missiles and the elimination of an entire class of land-based, intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

At the same time, however, they must be made to understand we will never compromise our principles and standards. We will never give away our freedom. We will never abandon our belief in God. And we will never stop searching for a genuine peace. But we can assure none of these things America stands for through the so-called nuclear freeze solutions proposed by some.

The truth is that a freeze now would be a very dangerous fraud, for that is merely the illusion of peace. The reality is that we must find peace through strength.

I would agree to freeze if only we could freeze the Soviets' global desires. A freeze at current levels of weapons would remove any incentive for the Soviets to negotiate seriously in Geneva and virtually end our chances to achieve the major arms reductions which we have proposed. Instead, they would achieve their objectives through the freeze.

A freeze would reward the Soviet Union for its enormous and unparalleled military buildup. It would prevent the essential and long overdue modernization of United States and allied defenses and would leave our aging forces increasingly vulnerable. And an honest freeze would require extensive prior negotiations on the systems and numbers to be limited and on the measures to ensure effective verification and compliance. And the kind of a freeze that has been suggested would be virtually impossible to verify. Such a major effort would divert us completely from our current negotiations on achieving substantial reductions.

A number of years ago, I heard a young father, a very prominent young man in the entertainment world, addressing a tremendous gathering in California. It was during the time of the cold war, and communism and our own way of life were very much on people's minds. And he was speaking to that subject. And suddenly, though, I heard him saying, "I love my little girls more than anything -" And I said to myself, "Oh, no, don't. You can't - don't say that." But I had underestimated him. He went on: "I would rather see my little girls die now, still believing in God, than have them grow up under communism and one day die no longer believing in God."

There were thousands of young people in that audience. They came to their feet with shouts of joy. They had instantly recognized the profound truth in what he had said, with regard to the physical and the soul and what was truly important.

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness - pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.

It was C.S. Lewis who, in his unforgettable Screwtape Letters, wrote: "The greatest evil is not done now in those sordid 'dens of rime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do no need to raise their voice."

Well, because these "quiet men" do no "raise their voices," because they sometimes speak in soothing tones of brotherhood and peace, because, like other dictators before them, they're always making "their final territorial demand," some would have us accept them as their word and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simpleminded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.

So, I urge you to speak our against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority. You know, I've always believed that old Screwtape reserved his best efforts for those of you in the church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride - the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

I ask you to resist the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support for our efforts, this administration's efforts, to keep America strong and free, while we negotiate real and verifiable reductions in the world's nuclear arsenals and one day, with God's help, their total elimination.

While America's military strength is important, let me add here that I've always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.

Whittaker Chambers, the man whose own religious conversation made him a witness to one of the terrible traumas of our time, the Hiss-Chambers case, wrote that the crisis of the Western world exists to the degree in which the West is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in communism's attempt to make man stand alone without God. And then he said, for Marxism-Leninism is actually the second-oldest faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, "Ye shall be as gods."

The Western world can answer this challenge, he wrote, "but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism's faith in Man."

I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man. For in the words of Isaiah: "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increased strength . . . But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary..."

Yes, change your world. One of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine, said, "We have it within our power to begin the world over again." We can do it, doing together what no one church could do by itself.

God bless you, and thank you very much.

Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
www.fred08.com

And he gave our men and women in uniform something to be proud of again.
Vietnam had destroyed the military morale. Reagan gave them back their fight. He made them believe, once again, that we were the best military in the world.
And then, he took a hardline stance with our enemies and disarmed them without ever firing a shot.
Pretty amazing.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." ~Professor Dumbledore

His most important contribution to the world? He was a nuclear abolitionist.

From the Heritage Lecture Series:

President Reagan’s Legacy and U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy
• Ronald Reagan - Strategist, Visionary, Nuclear Abolitionist, Anti-Communist, SDI Champion, Cold War Leader, Diplomat and Negotiator.

***

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.” – Ronald Reagan

that has sustained us for the past 30 yrs- Fiscal/Small govt conservatives, defense/American greatness conservatives and social conservatives.

He is a hero to all 3 groups. The reason you are hearing his name a lot is because none of the top 5 candidates now are similarly able to command support from all 3 groups. We want a "Reagan" - ie someone who can unite and inspire all the different party factions as he did.

...the MSM having obliterated from the historical record the exceptional turn in the country's direction that Reagan engineered.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa

talk radio and Rush Limbaugh
Internet bloggers
Fox News

he took it on all his strong shoulders--no rhetorical help at all, almost no alternative media

You guys brought back happy memories.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.

Ronald Reagan took a party that was content to quibble with the Democrats over how to deal with the alleged decline of America, and remade it in his image. A strong America, a prosperous America, and an America that remembers its values were his goals, and he made decent strides on all three.

He broke new ground in rebuilding the party and the country. That's why he's important.

It's not any one policy. If you try to look at particular facets, you can always find imperfections. But taken as a whole, he was the kind of President the country hadn't had in, oh, 50 years.

HTML Help for Red Staters

I want to emphasize to you, and others, some of the things about Reagan that often don't get said, mainly due to the caricature of him by libs; the fact that he was hard to get close to personally; and the fact that he didn't advertise his intellectual side.

Yes, Reagan restored the idea of American exceptionalism and inspired a restoration of patriotism. And yes, he defeated the USSR and restored the economy.

But what is interesting is how he did these things and how he prepared to do these things for decades.

1 - He got a great education at Eureka College. He speaks glowingly of his teachers there.

2 - Reagan was blogger before blogging. He was a voracious reader and writer and thinker. See his Life in Letters.

3 - He was an economic major in college and he was the third greatest economist of the 20th Century. He followed Milton's Freidman's theory when he let Volcker kill inflation. He was courageous enough to take the heat for the recession that was necessary.

4 - He met with Arthur Laffer in the 70s to discuss the curve that he would later prove correct with his tax rate cuts in the 80s.

5 - He met with SDI scientists in the 70s to discuss the theory which the threat of same was instrumental in the surrender of the USSR.

Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
www.fred08.com

Ronald Reagan revived a dying America. Jimmy Carter was disasterous for our morale. His emotional and motivational effect on our country far outweighed the damage wrought by even his most misguided policies.

Reagan was the exact opposite. His greatest contribution was that he made it feel good and positive to be American again. It started being fun and postive and stopped being synonimous with evil, like it was when Carter pontificated down to us.

"If this ain't a mess, it'll do until one shows up." -Sheriff Bell, No Country For Old Men

Jim Tomasik

We had won it by 1990.

We had energy shortages and gas lines in 1979;
we were drowining in energy in 1989

Stagflation was eroding our wealth and our confidence in 1979;
gone by 1989.

I have a personal story about President Reagan that I believe might help you understand his power to affect people as individuals.

In September 1982, I was in my last semester of college looking forward to getting out and earning my place in this world. Things were really looking up and I remember thinking that it was the best time of my life. And up until my daughter's birth five years ago, it was.

My happy and carefree state changed on a dime with a phone call from my older sister, who lived in another state. My mother had caught herself on fire while cooking dinner and was in the local hospital awaiting transfer to a burn unit. My sister had a family and a career to manage. My father had passed away when I was in elementary school. It was up to me to deal with the situation.

I could go on here and express to you the horrors that I witnessed over the next several months, the weekly 300 mile commutes, and the decisions that no 23 year old son should have to make. But that would be beside the point.

Let it suffice to say that my mother's injuries were so severe, the pain so excruciating, that she lapsed into a state her doctors called "intensive care unit psychosis." My visits to her bedside from Thursday evening to Sunday morning each week were incredibly frustrating. It was as if she wasn't there. All she did, 24 hours a day, was sit in her bed with her eyes wide open speaking mostly gibberish.

The nurses said that she never slept...just continually talked nonsense. But every so often a stream of coherent subconscious thought, mostly expressing fear, would come through. And after a while I started to get the gist of what was going on inside her mind. She was worried about losing her home. And for some strange reason it was tied to her fear about, of all things, Social Security legislation that was being discussed by Congress at the time of her accident.

I did not understand what was happening in Congress; I hadn't kept up with it. Heck, I was 23 years old! Why on earth would I be concerned about Social Security that seemed a million years away?

During one drive back to the university, I decided that I would find out what was going on in Congress. I would get the information, and explain it to my mother in a reassuring way in hopes that my words would somehow get through and ease her distress. And I couldn't think of a better way to get some action than to start at the top. So, I would write a letter to the President of the United States. Maybe he could help.

My mother adored Ronald Reagan. I could not understand why at the time; I was influenced daily by academicians who almost universally loathed him. To write an effective letter in this instance, I decided, would require trying to write it the way I thought my mom would. I remember sitting down and pouring my heart into a letter, explaining the situation framed in terms that made it clear how my mother felt about her favorite President.

I sent it. I remember feeling better for having written it, but I also remember being skeptical about getting anything more than a form letter in response. Weeks went by, and I almost forgot about it in my struggle to juggle my mom's crisis and still graduate on time.

My daily calls to the hospital to check on mom's condition were becoming pretty repetitive. She was still sitting up, babbling and fearing. That's pretty much what the nurses said every time I called.

Then, one day... I guess it had been about a month since I sent the letter to President Reagan... I called the hospital expecting the nurse to tell me the status quo had not changed. But it had.

"Would you like to speak with her?" the nurse asked.

"What are you talking about?" I replied.

"She received a card in the mail today, and get well card from President Reagan," she continued. "We opened it and put it in her good hand. She immediately stopped talking, and sat and stared at it for a couple of hours. And then, she just came back and started talking to us all. We're all kind of stunned around here.

"Let me put her on the phone," she concluded.

"Hello," mom said.

"Hi mom, how are you?"

"I got a card from Secretary Reagan today!" she exclaimed.

"I think you mean 'President Reagan,' mom. Don't you?"

"Yes, that's right," she continued. "I wonder how he knew I was here..."

The next day, I received a copy of a letter to my mother from the Social Security Commissioner. It outlined specifically, point by point, why my mother did not need to be concerned about Security Cuts putting her home at risk.

Now, I know that in all probability President Reagan did not physically sign that card. It's very doubtful that he knew anything of my letter, or of my mother's situation. But I believe that the way in which my letter was handled speaks volumes about the manner in which Ronald Reagan governed.

At the end of the day, you can always see the mark of a true leader... a great leader... reflected in the the people he selects to work around him.

It's been almost exactly 25 years since my mom got a get well card from President Ronald Reagan. I've worked with and around literally hundreds of elected officials and their staffs since then. I've seen the bad, the good and the great. But I've never again seen an instance in which a representative of the people was able to touch an individual so deeply through emissaries.

My mom loved Ronald Reagan. And although they were strangers, I know that he loved her.

That's why Ronald Reagan means so much to me.

Better be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident security. --Edmund Burke

Blog: TMYN

eyes, but this one certainly did. Thanks so much for sharing this. To think of all you went through at such a tender age is also a big part of this story. You are a person of profound and sturdy character--and you write well, too.