Posted on 11/15/2005 6:48:12 AM PST by writer33
Was Ronald Reagan truly unique? How exceptional was it that a small select group of men came along at just the right moment in time to become the Founding Fathers of what would prove to be the most extraordinary nation in the history of the world? Between the federal, state and local governments, there are thousands of elected public officials. Can you identify the ones that you believe have the characteristics or attributes of another Ronald Reagan or the Founding Fathers? Can you identify any that you believe to be equivalent to Ronald Reagan or the Founders?
AOL and the Discovery Channel recently reported an uncontrolled survey of public opinion to determine the "Greatest American" in the history of our country. There were 2.4 million votes reportedly cast. Ronald Reagan won with 24%. Lincoln was second and Martin Luther King Jr., third (23.5% and 19.7%). Washington and Franklin completed the top five (17.7% and 14.9%). In sequential order, the top ten were rounded out by George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Elvis Presley, Oprah Winfrey and Franklin Roosevelt. Voting was apparently conducted in phases of the top 100, top 25, and top 5. How the results were tabulated is not defined, but even so, the reported results are curious in that the top five polled a total of 99.86% of the reported results. There are nine living present or former presidents and vice presidents, nine current Supreme Court Justices, fifty sitting governors, and 535 current members of the United States Congress. In the reported results, no living American got even .2 of one percent. While this survey is certainly not conclusive, it offers some evidence that most Americans do not consider our presently elected or recent past leaders among the "great".
"We have the best Congress money can buy," Mark Twain. Twain died before Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt made it possible for politicians to take matters into their own hands. Closer to the truth, but still not an accurate depiction of American politics since 1932, President Reagan said, "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I’ve come to realize there is a very close resemblance to the first.” A better definition of a "professional" politician is one who is more interested in securing their own lifetime career in office through repeated re-election than in fulfilling the duties of their elected office. And because they are more interested in their own re-election, they are willing to subvert the Constitution in order to use the public treasury to buy blocks of votes from the public. In effect, "professional" politicians have converted our "republic" into a democracy by surrogates. The Founders envisioned statesmen winning elections based on principles. In contrast, unhampered by term limits, "professional" politicians began using socialism as the mechanism for the creation of blocks or categories of voters. With the almost unlimited taxing and borrowing power of the US treasury at their disposal, "professional" politicians then repeatedly and competitively bid for, and purchased the blocks of votes which they had created with socialism. As a vote harvesting tool, state legislatures extended socialism to government jobs; think "public" education and teachers. As early as 1964 Reagan reminded us, "Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."
If the Divine Hand of Providence is still watching over or guiding the path of the United States, surely there must be another Ronald Reagan or perhaps even a number of men like him in a country with a population of nearly 300 million. The first US Census (1790) taken under the supervision of Thomas Jefferson showed a population of only 3.9 million; among them were men like Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison, the signers of the Declaration and the countless patriots who fought in the American Revolution. The men and women serving in the military, not only today, but also in every past generation are a testament to the fact that patriots exactly like those that fought the Revolutionary War are and have been present in our population in substantial numbers in every generation of Americans. Where are the political leaders like Ronald Reagan and the Founders? What deters them from stepping forward and seeking public office?
Ronald Reagan's two landslide elections and the 1994 Congressional elections suggest that statesmen of a caliber similar to Ronald Reagan or the Founders can defeat "professional" politicians whose re-elections are dependent upon socialism, the insidious cancer that poses what is by far the most significant threat to our freedom. And it is freedom that forms the foundation on which our civilization is built. History is unambiguous; all democracies have ended in bankruptcy or hyperinflation whenever the public learns to vote itself benefits. Could the Constitution be restored and our republic be saved or resurrected if men like Ronald Reagan and the Founders could be recruited to come forward and seek election?
Ronald Reagan was clearly the catalyst that precipitated the downfall, but socialism is what doomed the Soviet Union to the Ash-heap of History. When carefully studied, Reagan's speeches are filled with guideposts that form a road map to the renaissance that will become his true legacy. Ash-heap or renaissance are the alternatives that Reagan was actually describing in A Time For Choosing: "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."
In the pages that follow, you are going to learn what is almost certainly the best, if not the only, way to recruit and elect statesmen made from the same mold as Ronald Reagan. Although the execution is not guaranteed to be easy, there truly is a simple way to both recruit, and elect patriots cut from the same cloth as the Founding Fathers.
"If the Divine Hand of Providence is still watching over or guiding the path of the United States, surely there must be another Ronald Reagan or perhaps even a number of men like him in a country with a population of nearly 300 million..The men and women serving in the military, not only today, but also in every past generation are a testament to the fact that patriots exactly like those that fought the Revolutionary War are and have been present in our population in substantial numbers in every generation of Americans.
We must find the answers to these two questions:
We think we have found the answers.
Thanks for the ping!
He was one of those Americans that was bigger than life. He came at a time when we as a country needed POSTIVE influence. He was not perfect, because he was a human being.
Compare Mr. Reagan to Mr. Carter?? Mr. Reagan illuminated our natio with hope. We were not bad, evil Americans. We were a GREAT nation.
FGS
Ronald Reagan ~ Bump!
Everybody could be a true poet, but most all have a block somewhere. But, if everyone were true poets, they could still be all different. In fact, since we are all different, we would have to be each unique poets. Reagan said things we would all love to say, and we know he was right to say those things. Nobody likes the nukes. Reagan said, let's get rid of them. Nobody liked the Wall. Reagan said, tear it down.
Nobody likes Terrorism. Bush might say, stop that! and be counted as a poet.
And we would like to take this opportunity to extend you a personal invitation and an invitation to all Freepers to please consider taking The Pledge.
"What deters them from stepping forward and seeking public office? "
Let me answer this one, because it's easy. Most TRUE conservatives are in business, as it is business that drives our freedom and prosperity. Becoming a politician is anathema to most conservatives. Most conservatives will become financially secure(for the sake of their families)
before even considering running for public office.
Ronald Reagan was financially secure when he first ran for governor of California. My own congressman, Elton Gallegly,R Thousand Oaks, Ca. was a self made millionaire before he ran for Congress(a Reagan clone in D.C.).
I think most conservatives look upon politics as a necessary evil....not unlike a car.
RR was the best! ~BTTT
Roger that ~ he wasn't too bad!
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Clinton is called a "great politician". I am sure Reagan would eschew that moniker. He was an honest man that earned our respect through his perseverence and morality.
Clinton has the respect of those are products of the late 20th Century mindset, "What have you done for me in the last five minutes?"
Reagan's life and presidency will live forever.
Clinton is already recognizing his fall into oblivion amongst honest people. Hence the need to put Hillary into office. They wish to cover Bill's stain on the American presidency with a cheap, trashy velvet Elvis (Sorry to all Elvis fans).
Thank ya!
Actually, your analysis is flawed. His predecessor was in office when the depression started and he took a lot of actions that made it seem to many that he was trying to turn it around. He hung the record of Hoover around the neck of his re-election opponents.
You are also incorrect in your conclusion: he was not mediocre, he was the worst president in the history of the country.
Actually, your analysis is flawed. His predecessor was in office when the depression started and he took a lot of actions that made it seem to many that he was trying to turn it around. He hung the record of Hoover around the neck of his re-election opponents.
You are also incorrect in your conclusion: he was not mediocre, he was the worst president in the history of the country.
"(Roosevelt)hung the record of Hoover around the neck of his re-election opponents."
Sure, the dems blamed the depression on the Republican economic policies of the 1920's. Once most folks were dirt poor, they were afraid to change leaders for fear it would get even worse. Wilson and the early 20th century democrats who got us the income tax and Federal Reserve, and FDR, are responsible for starting the country down this road to socialism.
The focus of our discussion though, is that we believe we have found a way to recruit and elect men similar to Ronald Reagan and the Founders. We invite you to join in this effort and invite everyone to take The Pledge.
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