The Gipper Could Write Speeches Too

Reagan was a much more complicated president than people perceive. He did more than merely win the "unwinable" cold war. He pushed against the development of ICBMs in favor of developing technologies that would knock them out of the sky. He called things what they were and did not "nanny-state" his vision of our possibilities. Reagan believed in America and in Americans, in what we can do and in what we should do. He then was able to tell Americans what he was thinking about and what they should think about. He talked in the language of the common man, not in jargon from a conservative textbook. Reagan made conservatism make sense. He knew societies with free enterprise grew; the others shriveled away. Reagan knew wealth was as unlimited as the human mind. He lived at least three whole lives before the Alzheimer's robbery of his final years. Reagan was the kind of guy a nation always needs. I miss him.

wrtr83 of CO 5:10PM October 23, 2008