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My Generation: We Are Reagan's Children
Chronwatch ^ | June 13, 2004 | Hans Zieger

Posted on 06/13/2004 9:09:41 AM PDT by qam1

The British refer to young people who grew up from 1979 to 1990--during the time Margaret Thatcher was prime minister--as ''Thatcher's Children.'' We could easily say the same of the approximately 30 million Americans who were born during the Reagan years, me included.

We would be a decent generation to consider ourselves Reagan's Children. For every young person needs heroes. This generation has had few, and Ronald Reagan was the greatest.

As a 13-year-old, I wrote a letter to President Reagan: ''I have certainly been inspired by you and that which you stood for ... I will stand firm for America by going out and winning one for the Gipper.''

I read Ronald Reagan's autobiography ''An American Life'' in the fifth grade, and I considered him a hero after that. To this day, my bedroom wall displays a large poster of Reagan standing beside a pillar along the West Wing corridor, a 1984 ''Americans for Reagan'' campaign banner, and a poster with this quote by the Great Communicator:

Freedom is not something to be secured in any one moment of time. We must struggle to preserve it every day. And freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

But can Reagan's Children preserve freedom for America? Can we carry on the mantle of greatness Reagan inherited from Washington and Lincoln and Cleveland and Coolidge? Can we still possess that genuine faith in God and country that gave breath to the Reagan Era?

Reagan's trademark optimism inspires me to answer nothing but an unequivocal yes, though the challenges are immense. Our culture, our government, and our sense of identity are at times and in places confounded. Still, our heritage and our hope remains.

''The future of our nation will be determined, more than anything else, by the character of our children,'' Reagan declared in 1982.

Indeed, we have character problems in America. But there is a strong and vital corps of young Americans who are committed to the simple, permanent things--the things of the spirit that define the American character. These are Reagan's Children who will keep America going.

Recent surveys show that Generation Next has more conservatives than any generation since statistics were available. The Harvard Institute of Politics reports that 31 percent of college students identify as Republicans, compared to 28 percent who are Democrats. And according to a Higher Education Research Institute report, 24 percent of college freshmen consider themselves liberal while an all-time high 21 percent say they are conservative. Even the Baby Boomers and Generation Xers who were Youth for Reagan in 1968, 1976, 1980 and 1984 could not rival with the energy and passion of what Rolling Stone and the New York Times have recently called, ''Young Hipublicans.'' These are Reagan's Children.

And Reagan's Children are lining the ancient sands of Babylon, fighting for the peace and freedom of Iraq, or they are defending liberty in Afghanistan, or they are at home on military bases struggling to prevent another terrorist attack.

Reagan's Children are the faithful corps of conservative college students, fighting against the leftist establishment in the dark realm of higher education, and studying eternal truths where that establishment has neglected to invade.

Reagan's Children go to church, plan for marriage and family--despise the deadly intellectual and moral poisons propagated by the left--and commit to a life of purpose and honor.

And Reagan's Children are optimists about the future. We are deeply divided at the moment, and civil wars of spiritual proportion are not out of the question, but it was only after the Civil War that America became the nation she is today. Reagan never ignored the reality of our circumstances and the inevitability of our struggle, but he never despaired. Likewise, Reagan's Children are both fighters and dreamers.

''If you take away the dream,'' warned Reagan, ''you take away the power of the spirit. If you take away the belief in a greater future, you cannot explain America--that we're a people who believed there was a promised land; we were a people who believed we were chosen by God to create a greater world.''

We must, at this moment and in this generation, renew our faith in America's future, for that is the best tribute we could pay to the legacy of Ronald Reagan. May Reagan's Children dare to dream, struggle to preserve the sacred fire of liberty, and ''go out and win one for the Gipper


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: genreagan; genx; geny; hanszieger; reagan; ronaldreagan
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To: qam1; TOUGH STOUGH; Alkhin
I wrote my tribute to Ronald Reagan as a message to the "Reagan's children" and younger generations. I was born in 1963, but I've never been a "boomer" in outlook and never identified with the boomers. As I've spoken to people, I've often found a sharp ideological break around 1962. Those born before that year tend to have more of the "boomer" attitudes. Those of us born after that year don't easily fit any category. I remember one radio commentator who called us "the forgotten generation between Seinfeld and Friends."

I love what President Reagan did for this country, but we are still recovering from deep wounds caused by the Clintons. If we are going to be the shining city in the future, we have to clean the poison left by the 90's. We can do it, but it is is no easy task. The future depends on doing it successfully.

One More Tribute (to President Reagan)
Bill

21 posted on 06/13/2004 1:12:36 PM PDT by WFTR (Liberty isn't for cowards)
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To: WFTR
Thanks for writing that!! It was great.

I have to confess now...I am greatly confused. Being born in 1967, am I part of the late boomer wave? or am I a part of GenX? I didnt even have boomer parents, with my dad born in 1936 and my mom in 1940, but they came of age right about the time of the Korean War. What's more, Im adopted, and my birthmother, for all I know, was a hippie, and so where do I fit it? Its why I always make the cutoff date for the GenXers to be right at 1980, because that's when the Boomers started settling into their careers and began having babies. The amount of money spent on toys in the 80s was thrice that of what had gone on when I was a child. I have a great deal of affection for the after '80 child boom, because I have a feeling they too will greatly surprise their parents, but I get a bit incensed when my peers are brushed over to call the boomlet the Genxers. We have then gone from being "whatever" to "who?" which is worse than being labeled. We weren't easily defined or manipulated, so I feel we were tossed aside...and now that we have a hero with which we can identify ourselves and makes ourselves known, YOUNGER groups are claiming him too.

GAH...its silly and profound at the same time.

22 posted on 06/13/2004 1:41:52 PM PDT by Alkhin (He thinks I need keeping in order)
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To: qam1

OH I am SO glad someone posted this. It is exactly how I feel. I was born in 1974, and growing up under Reagan I absolutely fell in love with this country. He made me believe that we could do anything we set our minds to- he was like our country's grandfather. My grandfather was the man that always believed in me- I could do no wrong. He had all the faith in me that I could do whatever I put my mind to, and that I was a good person. To me, Regan was like that to our country. Sure, we might not be perfect, but we are intriniscally good, and we can do anything we set our minds too. We were beloved by this man, and we all felt it.

I feel the same kind of loss for President Reagan I felt for my grandfather- just heartbreak and a deep sadness. Who will believe in us now with that same unwavering adoration? I adore our current president, but I don't think he conveys that same love of country as well as Reagan.


23 posted on 06/13/2004 1:47:22 PM PDT by lawgirl (God to womankind: "Here's Cary Grant. Now don't tell me I never gave you anything.")
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To: Alkhin
We are Generation Reagan.

I was a sophomore in college when Reagan was reelected (which was the first time I was old enough to vote!) and as a known Reagan supporter, more than a few of the jackbooted militant feminutties sneeringly called me "Reagan Youth" (with a heavy German accent).

24 posted on 06/13/2004 5:45:51 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! -- RIP, President Reagan)
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To: qam1
There is so few of us that we are just overshadowed on both ends. By the time we dislodge the baby boomers from power we are going to be over run by Ys

I think in their first book they call this the "echo effect" where the Baby Boomers had babies, and so there was an "echo baby boom". These were the "babies on board." Meanwhile, noone bothered to put us in carseats, etc. Yeah....Gen Reagan was neglected from the get-go. We're the most mis-treated, hard-working generation.

25 posted on 06/14/2004 6:24:45 AM PDT by hispanarepublicana (Free Brigette Bardot.)
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To: qam1; All

You realize, of course, they're saying those who had not a clue of Reagan are the "Reagan Generation"?! (Read: it ain't "Generation X" he's talking about!)

No way, no how, no sir! I CAME OF AGE during the Reagan Revolution, so I know darn well who he was, alot of what he did, and definitely what he stood for. *I* am the Reagan Generation!


26 posted on 06/14/2004 7:47:32 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (I was there! I passed Reagan's casket 6/10 3:40 PM!)
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To: somemoreequalthanothers

Never mind that the Dart was basically a '60s car, not a '70s.


27 posted on 06/14/2004 7:52:52 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (I was there! I passed Reagan's casket 6/10 3:40 PM!)
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To: unsycophant; All

Don't you love the hypocrisy of the Left:


'80s - generally noted as a huge ecomonic boom, dominated by Reagan, called the "Decade of Greed" and selfishness by hippie boomers.

'90s - proudly declared biggest economic expansion ever, dominated by Clinton, not a word about greed or selfisness.

It all depends on who's in control.


28 posted on 06/14/2004 7:57:35 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (I was there! I passed Reagan's casket 6/10 3:40 PM!)
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To: NCPAC; SevenofNine; cincy29; Desdemona; Alkhin; lawgirl; NYC GOP Chick; hispanarepublicana

Like I said in post 26, guys:

This post claims any1 born from '79 to '90 is the "Reagan Generation" - so that means you cannot be *older* than 24! ;-)


"say the same of the approximately 30 million Americans who were born **during** the Reagan years"


We've been shafted again on this generation thing! Maybe we really are the "lost generation"! Or is that the "Shafted Generation"?


29 posted on 06/14/2004 8:21:06 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (I was there! I passed Reagan's casket 6/10 3:40 PM!)
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To: qam1

Good post ping for later reading


30 posted on 06/14/2004 8:24:23 AM PDT by The South Texan (The Democrat Party and the leftist (ABCCBSNBCCNN NYLATIMES)media are a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Alkhin

Get a hobby.


31 posted on 06/14/2004 8:32:23 AM PDT by unsycophant
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To: the OlLine Rebel

BULL PUCKY!! You need to have been growing up in the Reagan era IMO -- i.e. during your formative years you lived with him as President. I would say like 1970-1985 would be my "Reagan Generation." Those old enough to remember him as president and be influenced by his leadership.


32 posted on 06/14/2004 8:34:15 AM PDT by lawgirl (God to womankind: "Here's Cary Grant. Now don't tell me I never gave you anything.")
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To: the OlLine Rebel

Without hypocrisy, what would the Left be? Genetic mutations, maybe.


33 posted on 06/14/2004 8:40:52 AM PDT by unsycophant
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To: lawgirl

Hey, you're still shafting me! ;)

I'd say it's really GenX (whatever!), like 1965-1975 (any1 born during Reagan's years shouldn't count!!!). We were all at least reasonably sentient certainly when Reagan left office, and most of us were very aware of his ascendency to the office.


34 posted on 06/14/2004 9:02:30 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (I was there! I passed Reagan's casket 6/10 3:40 PM!)
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To: unsycophant

Get lost.


35 posted on 06/14/2004 9:03:13 AM PDT by Alkhin (He thinks I need keeping in order)
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To: the OlLine Rebel
I tend to lean more towards qam1's demographic, if only for the sake of more round numbers...but I wouldn't go any further than 1980 as the cutoff point. I guess it would make sense for the start point to be that time right after the Kennedy assasignation. I think everyone who was living at that time can agree that was pretty much the end of an era. But I am wholeheartedly with you on reinforcing the idea that a generation is formed not by the year they were born, but by what events formed their understanding of the world when they became aware of it...and that is usually when they hit their teens and college years....which is what it was for me.

I turned 18 in 1985, so I can't even say that I got a chance to vote for him...but I would have! Does that make me a non-GenReaganite? I don't think so. He was talked about every day of my life then.

36 posted on 06/14/2004 9:09:31 AM PDT by Alkhin (He thinks I need keeping in order)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

LOL! I love it how we all love Reagan enough we are fighting to have our years included. It gives me some cool ideas for some Tshirts though.


37 posted on 06/14/2004 9:09:56 AM PDT by lawgirl (God to womankind: "Here's Cary Grant. Now don't tell me I never gave you anything.")
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To: Alkhin

Bite me.


38 posted on 06/14/2004 9:24:36 AM PDT by unsycophant
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To: unsycophant
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!
39 posted on 06/14/2004 9:48:52 AM PDT by Alkhin (He thinks I need keeping in order)
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To: HungarianGypsy
The schools and media made it sound like they gave up on us before we had even had a chance to grow up and do anything.

That's OK, because as a Reagan teenager, I gave up on most of my teachers and the media by the time I was around 15.

40 posted on 06/14/2004 9:51:12 AM PDT by jpl ("America's greatest chapter is still to be written, for the best is yet to come." - Ronald W. Reagan)
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