Remembering
Ronald Reagan…
I
was privileged to have served in the Reagan
Administration. I worked in his 1980 campaign,
and was honored to have directed the 1984
Republican National Convention which re-nominated
The Gipper. It was the greatest privilege
of my professional career. Frankly, I didn't
tell Presidential Personnel, but I would
have taken a toothbrush to clean every toilet
in the Old Executive Office Building to
have served his Administration.
This
week, the nation will be remembering Ronald
Reagan…he was a great leader, a tremendous
optimist, a kind and considerate individual,
and a man of faith who loved God, his family
and his country.
Though
there were many, many individuals who worked
more closely with President Reagan than
I, we all knew we were part of an elite
group of individuals who were privileged
to have served this great man. When you
were around Ronald Reagan, you KNEW you
were around greatness.
Today,
when considering public policy positions
and what the principled approach to take
is, I try to apply a Ronald Reagan litmus
test. “What would Ronald Reagan do?” I ask
myself. It is a question worth asking, and
one that would sustain our Founding Father's
vision of this country.
He
considered himself a simple man of modest
beginning – I considered him a modest man
who put complex issues in the simplest of
terms. In formulating his position on ending
the Cold War, I heard he had said “It's
as simple as this. We win. They lose.”
Those
who opposed Reagan's policies said he would
send us to war – instead, he ended the Cold
War without ever firing a shot, as Margaret
Thatcher put it.
I
have often thought over the past years how
tremendous it would have been for us to
have had his personal wisdom…and I am confident
I will think that many times in the future.
I believe there will be only one Ronald
Reagan during my lifetime, and I feel honored
to have served him.
His
legacy will be one of democracy prevailing
over communism – of turning around the economy
– of character and trust -- of faith and
of optimism for the future. He knew freedom
leads to prosperity.
Americans
can carry on his legacy by supporting his
vision of a limited government and individual
freedom. That is one reason I am committed
to my work with Americans for Prosperity
(the former CSE Foundation) to work to keep
the Reagan vision alive.
I
think I loved most his great optimism in
the future. Ronald Reagan made Americans
feel good about ourselves. He didn't consider
us just another country but considered us
the greatest nation on earth – and with
that, he empowered us to continue to strive
to be great.
Billy
Graham once said, speaking of Ronald Reagan:
“
His emphasis on moral and spiritual
values was one of his great contributions.
Mr. Reagan made Americans feel good about
themselves, no matter what the problems
were. More than that, he pointed them to
the moral and spiritual foundations which
have made this nation great.”
He
was a thoughtful, truly great man who had
tremendous humility. Many of us recall when
he was shot, he had such humor (“Honey,
I forgot to duck”; “I hope the doctors are
all Republicans”) -- and many of us in his
Administration wondered if Nancy would want
him to run for a second term. I will always
be grateful to Nancy for sharing him with
the country.
What
you saw is what he was…a kind, gracious,
straightforward man of character. But we
likely all remember best his humor.
He
used humor to tell stories to make points.
We all remember the story of the pony. It
went something like this. A couple had twin
boys. One was a pessimist and the other
an eternal optimist. The parents sought
counseling for the boys and the counselor
took the pessimist to a room filled with
toys. The boy cried saying all the toys
would break and he found no joy in playing
with them. The counselor took the optimist
to a decaying barn, opened the barn doors
and there stood a mound of manure two stories
high. The young boy burst out in a large
grin, grabbed s shovel and began digging.
The counselor was amazed and asked what
he was doing. The young boy answered, “With
this much manure, there must be a pony in
here somewhere.”
We
may all remember where we were Jan 28, 1986,
when the Challenger Disaster occurred –
those 73 seconds when we watched in horror
when the space shuttle was lost. It was
then when we heard Ronald Reagan's faith
– as we had so many times – and he said
these words which remind me so much of his
own passing:
“The
crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored
us by the manner in which they lived their
lives. “We will never forget them, nor the
last time we saw them, this morning, as
they prepared for the journey and waved
goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of
earth' to 'touch the face of God.'”
The
Great Communicator touched Americans in
his simplicity and his ability to articulate
just what we were thinking – or wanted to
be thinking.
In
his farewell address to the nation, he said
“I've spoken of the Shining City in my political
life…in my mind it was a tall, proud city
built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept,
God-blessed, and teeming with people of
all kinds living in harmony and peace; a
city with free ports that hummed with commerce
and creativity. And if there had to be city
walls, the walls had doors and the doors
were open to anyone with the will and the
heart to get here. That's how I saw it,
and still see it.”
Ronald
Reagan had an unshakable faith in the creative
power of freedom and saw that in his blueprint
for rebuilding that Shining City on a Hill.
He had a vision, a vision that will live
beyond us all.
He
changed the world. He changed all of us
honored to have worked for him. He changed
America and our vision of this great country.
Ronald
Reagan said goodbye to Americans 10 years
ago; and though Nancy has had such a long
and difficult good-bye, Americans have yet
to say farewell to Ronald Reagan.
Perhaps
the most fitting way to honor him is to
apply his principles in our love of America,
in enacting conservative principled policies
and in the manner in which we live our lives.
That is Reagan's City on a Hill.
God
Bless You, Ronald Reagan.
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