"In case they are looking for an epitaph, that would be it."
I agree, wholeheartedly.
"How could anyone choose self-loathing liberalism over such optimism?"
They couldn't.
And I suspect avoiding that man's brand of optomism's precisely *how* the filthy Liberal-Socialist liars have gotten as far as they have.
The Liberal-Socialist doesn't dare tell the truth of who or what they [don't] stand for, lest they ALL be tarred, feathered & run outa Dodge on a rial the instant they shut their miserable piehole(s).
But your question does lend much insight into *why* the Liberal-Socialist freaks hated, no, loathed that great man as much as they did, too.
Loathed him then & continue to loathe him 16 years after he left office.
That's the kind of maintained hatred of The Beast, Itself.
RR's message of *hope* negated the only thing the Liberal-Socialist ever stood for, hopelessness.
The man's message was a virtual cross held up to the miserable bloodsucking parasitic vampires; &, if there was ever any doubt about that?
Just revisit the Liberal-Socialist reaction(s) to RR in his day.
...or merely the mention of his name, *today*.