Posted on 06/06/2004 9:50:14 AM PDT by paul in cape
Now that President Reagan has moved on to his higher calling, I think it's time to revisit the commissioning of a second Mount Rushmore: I'll call it SPIRIT OF FREEDOM. The second half of the 20th Century saw 3 leaders who, although one may disagree with a policy or two, allowed America to rise above pettiness and strive for greatness. My list would include Franklin Roosevelt, for guiding the nation through the Depression and WWII, John Kennedy, for renewing the spirit of mission and can-do-ism, and Ronald Reagan, who won the cold war without firing a shot, and pulling America up on his back and out of the malaise of Carterism, and infecting most Americans with a renewed sense of optimism.
I would like to see Ronald Reagan added as well.
If the US ever wants to popularize that stupid "silver" dollar that looks like a quarter, putting Ronald Reagan's face on it would go a long way towards selling me on the idea.
Concur.A large statue of Reagan developed from the famous speech "Tear this wall down." As I recall, Reagan pointed at the wall when he said that. Sculpt the statue of Reagan in that pose, and place the Statue so it points toward the piece of the Wall at the Reagan Building in Washington.
Concur.And I don't believe that more time is needed to evaluate Reagan's legacy; those who do not accept it are of the ilk to claim that everyone who agrees with them is objective, and everyone who does not agree with them is "not objective." No one could be objective without being wise; what they mean is that in their own conceit they themselves are wise.
Ronald Reagan
In his first two terms FDR failed to get the country going again and failed to prevent WWIII - and that is how he should be judged, like all other presidents.
- got the country going again
- whipped inflation
- stopped the energy crisis, and
- transcended Communism.
Sounds Good...some may take exception to the Brits...Adm."Swimmer" Kennedy and his Evil Ilk. :/
There is no twentieth century president who cleaned up so much of the mess left by his predecessors, and left such managable problems for his successors, and did Reagan. Not that his successors managed very well, but that was for want of Reaganesque vision of what needed doing when they were in office.
"Reagan needs a monument ALL his own. I believe he's one in a million."
I agree.
I didn't mean to suggest that more time was needed to evaluate Reagan's legacy.
Reagan's legacy was evident the day he took office (I was in DC and it was like the world went from black and white to color).
But keep in mind when the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson memorials were built.
Taking TIME will ensure that something worthy of the man and his legacy is built. In the meantime, the best memorial to Ronnie is cherishing and defending what his legacy bequeathed us (you know the list).
Churchill was made a citizen by a special act of congress after the war so he would be fitting. I believe a whole new monument needs to be made--Out here in the west--California or Nevada. A great carving like stone mountain in GA. Perhaps one to Honor the cold warrors that would have, Truman, Ike, and Reagan. Or maybe just Reagan--on a horse with the text of his great speach about a shining city on a hill.
Amen, brother Ben.
Works for me. But they'll need to take one of the old Saturn V "crawlers" out of mothballs at Cape Kennedy to transport the 400-foot tall bottle of Chivas Regal to the sculpture site.
Kennedy's death in office made him grander than he was IMO.
Enough with the idol worship. Let's worship his ideals, not his image.
Paulsen, your thoughts? (Kinda curious)
Are you nuts? Any public monument would have the lefties in full bay for the inclusion of W. B. J. Clinton.
Oh wait!
You meant on a rock...not under it.
I am okay with John Kennedy and Reagan.
I would NOT want FDR on there.
paulsen is a different freeper... however, I rather agree with you...
The real battle with this is going to be the "identfication" of Reagan's ideals. IE... regardless of what we conservatives say about what reagan really "meant" at times, the reality of the man's life and ideals are going to be debated hotly.
I already heard some lefty asserting Reagan's support "for any means of protecting the environment..." HE MEANT ANY THING THAT the TREE HUGGERS would find a good idea today!!!
He should have inserted the little word "sensible" instead of "any".
Some religionists will stress his support for "prayer in school." Implying there should be "prayer in school" as a government educational policy, whereas to those of us who remember, Reagan actually only supported "voluntary" prayers.
Thus the battle will be on to define what "President Reagan Beleived" in terms that benefit one view or the other.
Building accurate statues of stone that are faithful to the resemblance of their original... is easier and less controversial than building an accurate and useful blueprint of the man's ideology.
In these days... EVERY issue, no matter how clearly discussed and often pronounced in public... WILL be politicized to polarize the nation to our own detriment.
I would like to see us focus on following the man's ideals, rather than waste time trying to carve a new monument.
And in a time like this... REAGAN would be viciously focussed on killing off islamic terrorists and the regimes that tolerate them. I believe had REAGAN been in charge, the missiles would have flown on certain middle eastern targets, on or about 9-13-2001.
He would have more clearly identified a much broader swath of Islam as our bitter enemy... not just a few radicals. I say let's win the war against terrorists and then build statues.
Bump!
I have noticed that some leftists have given up on trying to malign Reagan as a racist right-wing warmonger, and are instead claiming he was really a bleeding heart liberal.
LOL.
-PJ
I agree literally on the first point, and figuratively on the second. Among presidents he's one in at least a dozen; among people generally he was one in 300 million or so. He could not conceivably have been elected president until he had gained experience as Governor of California. But with his negotiating ability from the SAG days and his leadership abilities and life's experience he would at any time after the Eisenhower Administration (if not before) have been a better choice for POTUS than anyone who in fact attained (or was even nominated to) national office.But of course we couldn't know that then , and if he had been president back then we might not have had a clue of how bad the alternative was, and might not have understood his excellence in the same way that we who have seen the Johnson, Carter, and Clinton Administrations with open eyes do. And, may God preserve the Union, the Democrats now think to afflict the nation with the war hero whose great political achievement was to throw the honor of the nation's military in the garbage can back in 1971.
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