Posted on 07/22/2004 9:44:43 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
I smiled when “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was played at recent ceremonies honoring Ronald Reagan. After all, he was the second President from Illinois to free slaves. The line that sticks with me is “I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish`d rows of steel.”
The steel Julia Ward Howe referred to was soldiers’ rifles, but it could just as well refer to all the hardware Reagan deployed in the largest military buildup since World War II. The steel was modern, but the fire was straight from Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, “[T]he flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.” Reagan was certain of freedom’s power, and that huddled masses yearned to breathe free behind concrete walls and iron curtains.
Much was said last week about those walls that fell in Europe. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that; Europe was the central front of the Cold War. But let’s not forget the Reagan legacy in other parts of the globe. Take El Salvador, for instance.
America already supported the government there when Reagan came into office. President Carter had provided aid so they could repel a brutal insurgency. This didn’t keep Reagan’s critics from the usual “moral equivalence” arguments. In 1983, when America had 55 advisors in El Salvador and Nicaragua had 2,000 Cuban advisors, advisors from the PLO and Libya, 36 new military bases, Soviet tanks and dreaded Hind attack helicopters, the two situations were routinely treated as equivalent. Critics who warned that the “amiable dunce” didn’t know what he was doing couldn’t grasp the downside of having Soviet client states (and Soviet submarine and air bases) along our vital Caribbean shipping lanes.
Critics who demanded a gentle “realpolitik” tone with the Soviets couldn’t stomach a realpolitik approach with the right-wing government of El Salvador. Their abuses were widely (and rightly) criticized, but the critics weren’t deterred when U.S. pressure led to free elections, or when Marxist “freedom fighters” tried to sabotage the elections by threatening to kill anyone who voted. Their slogan was “Vote today, die tonight.” It backfired. Election turnout was at 80%. One woman was shot but still got in line to vote, another told a group of guerillas, “You can’t kill us all.” The road to democracy was long, but they were on it.
Today, El Salvador is a free republic with a constitution established in 1983. They’ve contributed troops to the effort in Iraq, not very many troops, but familiar ones. While getting the military under civilian control in the 1980s, the government adopted American training methods. Some of their officers graduate from our military academies, and all Salvadoran soldiers receive extensive human rights training. Journalist Jim Garamone reports that a visit to a Salvadoran training camp is much like going to Fort Benning, except the soldiers speak Spanish and call out “Ai-Ya” instead of “Hooah.” Their minesweeping and medical work in Iraq frees up American combat troops.
And that brings us back to Reagan’s old stomping grounds, Northwest Illinois. A T-shirt I’ve seen around town says, “Army Mom: My kid’s got your back.” In turn, those Salvadorans have their back. It’s a small gesture from a small country, but in some small measure our loved ones in the 333rd and other deployed units are a little safer, their jobs a little easier, because Ronald Reagan and the American people refused to turn their back on El Salvador when they needed us. Now the Iraqis are on that bumpy road the Salvadorans traveled. They’ll get there too. All we have to do is refuse to turn our backs. Freedom can do anything.
Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery in 1986, Ronald Reagan said of the men buried there, “They loved America very much….And they loved with the sureness of the young.” Though he was our oldest President, we know he shared that youthful sureness, and because he was sure and steady and right, the flames of ’76 are still with us, ready to be passed on again.
The next column (from mid-July) will be posted tomorrow. I'm establishing a low volume ping list for my column work, which will be pinged monthly at first and eventually go to weekly. If you want on, let me know in this thread or by freepmail.
Very nice article, Mr. Silverback, and congratulations on breaking into the big leagues!
The next time he called I used his name right after I picked up the phone, and told him he'd better be calling to apologize.
CLICK.
Heh-heh.
LOLOL!
Yes please, I want a ping.
Thank you.
Another good article!
I love what you did to that old guy!
BTTT
Thank you. See post four for a laugh.
Thanks!
That must have felt soooo good!
Oh yes it did! And it was right before I went to freep the local appeaseniks, too. Just an added little bonus!
If you're only relinguishing first printing rights, then other papers could publish that as an op/ed submission, right? Our news calls it "My Turn", which is what they published mine under.
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