The world has lost a great, great man. As a teenager during Reagan's presidency I drew much inspiration from his unwavering conviction that Communism was a threat to humanity, and his resolute courage in fighting it, and wearing it down to its destruction. Like my parents, I shared Reagan's confident optimism that good can triumph over evil--and that we are responsible for our own destiny with the help of God.
How many times I read finger-shaking missives from 'cultural betters' in the local newspaper that Reagan was an idiot, a cowboy who would get us killed. And from Big Entertainment too--Sting, "The Russians," and all that. People I respected greatly, like some of my high-school teachers, were weak on Communism. We should coexist, it's not that bad, etc.
And of course Reagan's belief in individual responsibility, and the free market, meant he "hated the poor." As I watched local diocesan figures criticize Reagan, I learned that Church figures weren't necessarily to be uncritically trusted--even if the Magisterium was trustworthy. I cut my teeth as a thinker defending Reagan's anticommunism and economic policies in letters to the editor.
They were wrong. Reagan was right. And the world is a much better place today because the Soviet Union was worn to collapse, and America's belief in free enterprise and our way of life was rekindled.
Reagan is the first of the Three Lions of the fight against Communism to pass from our midst. It seems that George W. Bush is the first lion of the war against Islamism. May God raise up other lions for this war, and lead us to the same happy result as in the Cold War.
I grew up in the "duck and cover" fifties...none of us ever thought we would see the day when the flag of the Evil Empire descended from atop the Kremlin's dome and the flag of the Russian Republic once again unfurled in the Moscow sky....sorry for the poetic waxing...but that's the truth.......I remember N.K. banging his shoe at the UN screaming that he would bury us (by the way there's an interesting story about this if you want to hear it sometime...)....I remember the Missile crisis...I remember my parents stocking the basement shelves with canned goods.....I remember the air raid sirens shrieking every saturday at noon...Ronald Reagan, JP II, and Margaret Thatcher aligned in the stars to bring about the grand demise......may God grant him eternal peace and us leaders of his magnitude.
The world has lost a great, great man. As a teenager during Reagan's presidency I drew much inspiration from his unwavering conviction that Communism was a threat to humanity, and his resolute courage in fighting it, and wearing it down to its destruction. Like my parents, I shared Reagan's confident optimism that good can triumph over evil--and that we are responsible for our own destiny with the help of God.
How many times I read finger-shaking missives from 'cultural betters' in the local newspaper that Reagan was an idiot, a cowboy who would get us killed. And from Big Entertainment too--Sting, "The Russians," and all that. People I respected greatly, like some of my high-school teachers, were weak on Communism. We should coexist, it's not that bad, etc.
And of course Reagan's belief in individual responsibility, and the free market, meant he "hated the poor." As I watched local diocesan figures criticize Reagan, I learned that Church figures weren't necessarily to be uncritically trusted--even if the Magisterium was trustworthy. I cut my teeth as a thinker defending Reagan's anticommunism and economic policies in letters to the editor.
They were wrong. Reagan was right. And the world is a much better place today because the Soviet Union was worn to collapse, and America's belief in free enterprise and our way of life was rekindled.
Reagan is the first of the Three Lions of the fight against Communism to pass from our midst. It seems that George W. Bush is the first lion of the war against Islamism. May God raise up other lions for this war, and lead us to the same happy result as in the Cold War.
I grew up in the "duck and cover" fifties...none of us ever thought we would see the day when the flag of the Evil Empire descended from atop the Kremlin's dome and the flag of the Russian Republic once again unfurled in the Moscow sky....sorry for the poetic waxing...but that's the truth.......I remember N.K. banging his shoe at the UN screaming that he would bury us (by the way there's an interesting story about this if you want to hear it sometime...)....I remember the Missile crisis...I remember my parents stocking the basement shelves with canned goods.....I remember the air raid sirens shrieking every saturday at noon...Ronald Reagan, JP II, and Margaret Thatcher aligned in the stars to bring about the grand demise......may God grant him eternal peace and us leaders of his magnitude.
Remember this quotable when you wonder whether or not you should vote this november:
Abortion is advocated by people who have themselves been born....Ronald Reagan