Didn't President Reagan, who switched from dem to rep, once say that he didn't leave the party. The party left him?
Yes, he did. We remain a 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3 nation. What surprises me is how little 9-11 changed things. A vocal yet powerful minority of a major political party is willing to believe that a fellow American is a greater danger to the survival of the country than a messianic Saudi fanatic with a taste for mass killing.
Bush will be remembered as a great man. But not just now. Now he is, like John the Baptist, the prophet before his time. Much must still happen to make the mass of the nation believe what Bush is trying to get accross.
When a propaganda film by Michael Moore can be peddled as family entertainment in America during a time of war, then there remains an illness abroad in the land.
I believe that Reagan, had he confronted 9-11, would have been able to strike just the right tone and kept the country together. Part of the problem, of course, is that much of the country doesn't want to be kept together. I am glad that Reagan does not have to confront the personal abuse and hatred that Bush has taken on. He did, to some extent, but the hatred of Reagan was far less pronounced.
Reagan's passage was fortuitous in one respect. While the left screamed that Bush is a "Nazi", Reagan in his death gave us an example of all that was noble and all that was genuine in men. Bush the Elder today, as well as his son, gave two fine examples of remembrance and respect, and brought themselves great honor in so doing. There was no partisanship, nor rancor. They were genuinely consoling to the Reagan family (God bless GW for mentioning Michael, btw). They rendered their own honors to that single man who liberated the millions from a long, twilight tyranny. They made sure that their eulogies were not about them, but about the Liberator.
At Reagan's passage I am reminded that we are at war. For all that he meant, for the liberation of the minds of men from ignorance, want, and hate, we must rededicate ourselves to the cause of human freedom for which Ronald Reagan stood. To meanly lose Western Civilization to a band of Muslim fanatics who offer only death? I think not. We are better than that, and better than they who yearn only for death. Ronald Reagan's life and service is proof of that assertion.
Reagan's greatness forces me to recall Mr. Churchill. During the year that Britain stood alone against the armed might of the Third Reich, Churchill reminded his people of the task ahead:
"Death and Sorrow shall be our companions on this journey. Hardship shall be our garment. Constancy and Valour our only shield."
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Now that, Chris, deserves a bookmark, Bump, Bttt
Bravo and Amen!