Portrait of the Conservative as a Young Man
Posted on 06/06/2004 5:16:23 AM PDT by MadIvan
The news of President Reagan’s death hit me hard. I was sitting here in my London flat, Sky News was on the television, chattering in the background as I was working on my laptop. Then the announcer said, “We’ve just been informed that President Ronald Reagan has died in his home in Bel Air, California.”
Portrait of the Conservative as a Young Man |
This was not unexpected news. The fact that he had Alzheimers had become a background fact of life: the Great Man was making a long, slow march to the gates of Heaven, becoming one with eternity by stages. But for him to complete the journey brought back all the initial pain of his announcement of his illness.
The pain comes from a thought that continues to echo in my heart and mind, Ronald Reagan is still my President, much like Margaret Thatcher is still my Prime Minister. In my heart, I am still in the glory days of the 1980’s, when leadership was readily available, anything seemed possible, and our purpose was clear.
And what was that purpose? The purpose was the extension of liberty in every sphere. It is rare to hear tributes to liberty in this day and age, but in the era of Ronald Reagan, liberty was the religion, and it was a faith that crossed the Atlantic. There would be liberty at home, in terms of undoing the shackles of government, which was reducing the populace to penury. There would be liberty abroad, and the Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, et al, would all gain the opportunity to breathe the invigorating air of freedom.
I can say this creed of liberty was just as strong in Britain as America. With Reagan and Thatcher at the helm, those of us who were adherents to its tenets made plans for more and more liberty, imagining limitless potential for nations that imbibed it.
This is not to say that everyone shared Reagan’s faith in liberty. There were those who felt, and continue to feel, that liberty is not nearly so valuable as security. These people take many forms: liberals, socialists, Communists. They wish to tie humanity in a tangle of regulatory and statutory knots, strangling potential, dampening down the dreams and expectations of humanity, invariably “for their own good”. The only difference in these opponents of liberty was the degree to which they opposed it – American Democrats opposing it less than Communists, but still yearning for the same security to be had when people, unruly and disorderly as they are, are put into a straightjacket.
Reagan knew better and was wiser, but was invariably described by these opponents as simplistic and stupid. His opponents were frequently frustrated by their inability to ascribe evil motives to him: they would investigate, probe, pry and find the same answer – he was a good man, doing what he thought best for the country and the world. That was it, no further explanation was required. To be truly good destroys the mindset of the opponent of liberty, whose justification for a Leviathan government is man’s inability to be so. Therefore the only way to put the world back into balance is to describe Reagan as a simpleton, who is in need of a Leviathan to restrain his naivete. In spite of his opponents, and there were many, Reagan won. Liberty won. People throughout the world are still benefiting from the fruits of his victory. We no longer have to fear the USSR or the numbing servitude of Communism. Even socialists are starting to realise that there is no substitute to the free market: mindsets have changed to the point where the public instinctively reacts negatively to the encroachment of an all-powerful government.
It is also important to note that Reagan won with style. The ready humour, the smile, the wit, the ease with which he spoke, all told of a man who held buoyant optimism as a virtue while the ship of state sailed through heavy storms. This geniality left a lasting impression on me: I revere Mrs. Thatcher. However, I have referred to President Reagan in the past as “Uncle Ron”, and invariably people knew who I was talking about.
It was terribly sad when he left the White House. A line from a Bruce Springsteen song occurred to me, “Glory days, they pass you by.”; indeed, it was the end of the line for much of the glory. Inevitably, Mrs. Thatcher left office as well. The creed of liberty suffered its first defeats with the election of Bill Clinton, who with his sly hucksterism tried to seduce America like a girl he had in the back of his El Camino, with promises of security, while all the while running his hand up her skirt. The creed of liberty was less damaged by the election of Tony Blair, but nonetheless harmed by his regulatory excesses and his Third Way posturing, a modification on old ideas about security being preferable to freedom. It must be said that the creed of liberty was also bloodied by the excesses of the War on Terrorism: while it is perfectly right and proper to destroy the terrorists and the regimes which support them, would our dear President Reagan approve of making grandmothers remove their shoes for an airport scanner? Unlikely.
So for those who continued to yearn for liberty, Ronald Reagan, in spite of his long illness, was still the President. For those who still live the dream of liberty, cherish the clean, bracing virtues of self-responsibility and self-government, he still is, even though he has passed into eternity.
Rest in peace, Mr. President.
Apologies for the hit and run posting, but it's back to work!
Regards, Ivan
President Reagan was one of my closest political and dearest personal friends.
He will be missed not only by those who knew him, and not only by the nation that he served so proudly and loved so deeply, but also by millions of men and women who live in freedom today because of the policies he pursued.
Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty, and he did it without a shot being fired.
To have achieved so much against so many odds and with such humour and humanity made Ronald Reagan a truly great American hero.
- Margaret Thatcher
It's good to hear from you; many of your freeper friends have been worried for you after not hearing from you for so long.
Thank you for stopping in today of all days.
Thank you, Ivan, for that touching tribute. I have missed you here, and am glad you are ok.
later
good to see your name at the bottom of a post, MadIvan.
What a beautiful tribute to "Our" President. Thank you MI.
So glad to see your post and to know that you are doing well. Drop back in when you can. You are missed.
I hope you don't mind me bookmarking this thread. It says everything I wanted to say, and so beautifully.
A sad day for the world... BTTT
I loved and miss his Presidental addresses he made me proud to be an American.
True things arent always great here but he made us see what we had acomplished in the world and challenged us to do more.
To bad there are not more like him.
Hey!
Look who it is!
It's nice to see you, even if the cause for your manifestation is somber.
Excellent tribute. It's good to see you again.
Good to see you again, Ivan, and that was such a fine essay that I'm crosslinking it here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1148235/posts
Ronald Reagan Passes- some links...
various FR links | 06-05-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy
Thank you and great to hear from you, even on this sad occasion...
Ivan Wonderful to hear from you again! We truly miss your posts.
Nice to see you posting, Ivan.
Thanking God that we have George W.
God Bless America
Thank you, good friend. Ronald Reagan always belonged to the world. Now he belongs to the Ages.
Thank you for such a beautiful tribute, MI. Glad to see you post.
What a poignant dedication, and it's great to hear from you!
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