 "He will always be great to me. I will know him for his words and his actions on behalf of his nation. That he had been an actor or that he suffered with Alzheimer's were not the things that made him the great man he became. The fact that he was a loving husband or that he had a positive outlook were qualities that accentuated but did not make him great.Beware; you will be bombarded with half-truths and lies. Beware; you will be encouraged to accept something that is less than the whole truth about the greatest President of the 20th Century. Indeed, it is his Presidency and the permanent impact he had upon our nation and the world that makes his legacy. Would the globe in your home have been updated in the last 30 years if it had not been for the Presidency of Ronald Reagan? Would the quest to protect the unborn be an ongoing effort if it had not been for the Presidency of Ronald Reagan? Would there be a conservative movement in America and would it yet find its home in the Republican Party if it had not been for the Presidency of Ronald Reagan? We could go on and on with questions that might well be answered, "No" by discussing issues of tax policy, federalism, international affairs, social issues, our military and the very basic questions of the proper role of government in a free society. Ronald Reagan changed America and the world for the better and that is his legacy. That is not what you will end up hearing about. While there will be proper tributes they will quickly be used to drum up support for things Ronald Reagan would not support. Of course there will be those media types who will work to dismiss him, but they are not the dangerous ones. The ones who will try and could become effective are those that will bend rather than break the truth about him. They will emphasize the things that were good and should properly add flavor to our collective understanding of the man. Beware, lest the spice dominate the soup. You will hear much about his early years prior to that speech, "A Time For Choosing" and much about his years of suffering after leaving the White House. As for the years in the Executive Mansion you will see pictures of him with foreign leaders and at "the Ranch" but little of substance. Then you will be encouraged to support the use of deceased unborn children in the quest for a cure to the disease that he suffered so long from. The manner in which those innocents came to be dead will be whitewashed. Beware; his years in Dixon and Des Moines and then in Hollywood may have made the man but they were not the destiny that made the man great. Beware; his years of suffering from what has become an all to common disease did not dominate his life and should not his legacy. Keep your eyes on the prize he sought. In his memory pursue what he pursued. For the sake of understanding, educate yourself. Listen to that speech, "A Time For Choosing" given on behalf of Barry Goldwater. It is in the top three most important political speeches of American history along with Washington's "Farwell" and Bryan's "Cross of Gold". Listen also to his inaugural addresses and to his prophetic comments at the Berlin Wall. The National Federation of Republican Assemblies owes its continued existence directly to Ronald Reagan. It was he who said of the California Republican Assembly (before the NFRA was formed) that we are "The Conscience of the Republican Party." It was the endorsement of Goldwater for President by the CRA that created the solid conservative credentials of the Republican Assembly movement and formed the initial interstate involvement of our movement. We want to encourage the submission of essays of tribute to Ronald Reagan as it is our intention to publish the very best of these in a special newsletter. Please send such to us at President@GOPwing.com ." |