Ronald Reagan’s Enduring Legacy
By: By Mike Pence
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
I remember it like it was yesterday: sitting in the National Cathedral, hearing “Mansions of the Lord” somberly echoing through the rafters. I remember watching the horse-drawn caisson carry the casket to the Capitol, my young children at my side. It is hard to believe it’s been 20 years since President Ronald Reagan “slipped the surly bonds of Earth.”
I began my political life in the Democrat Party. But when I heard the voice, the vision, and the optimism of Ronald Reagan, I knew the Republican Party was where I belonged.
I came to revere our 40th president. When I first ran for Congress in 1988, I was invited to Washington to meet with President Reagan. I thanked him for all he did to inspire my generation to believe in our country again.
And that is exactly what Reagan did. The economic, political, and cultural turmoil of the 1970s caused many to lose faith in our country and in our founding principles. Some even believed that the Soviet Union and communism would outlive the American experiment. But President Reagan knew it was always darkest before the dawn, and he knew that it would soon be morning in America once again.
When Reagan took office, inflation rates were double-digit, unemployment was sky-high, and communism was spreading like wildfire. By the time he left office, he had helped create the most powerful economy in recorded history, Soviet communism was on its last legs, and the Cold War would soon end in American victory. He accomplished it all not by compromising conservative principles, but by standing firm on what he knew was right.
Some Republicans today view Reagan as a figure best confined to history books: revered, but no longer relevant to our current challenges. I respectfully disagree. While the specific issues we face may differ, the foundational principles of our nation remain unchanged. The principles Reagan championed — limited government, traditional values, the right to life, and a strong national defense — will endure forever as a light to the feet of future generations charting the path of our nation in the years to come.
These core American principles are the foundation upon which our nation was built. They have guided America through a civil war, two world wars, and the horrors of 9/11. They will continue to sustain us through future challenges.
Some may find it fashionable to question the relevance of Reagan’s wisdom, asking, “Don’t you know what time it is?” Political fads may come and go, but the traditional-conservative principles and ideals Reagan championed are truly timeless. They are hardwired into our American DNA, from the Founding Fathers to the present, and they will endure long after the rest of us have joined our 40th president in the next life to come.
No personal insults
No death wishes of any individual
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A nice tribute by what just might be the last Conservative: Mike Pence.
Reaganism is no longer the driving force of the Republican party. Along with FDR, he created the most enduring movements of the 20th century but time comes for everything. Success brings its own downfall. Conservatism relies on good faith of all participants. Principles and adherence to norms become a losing proposition when only one side plays by that rule.
We are now in an environment that is so degraded that conservativism can't really function. District Court judges try and overrule the Supreme Court. The supposedly independent media that just spent four years lying about the ability of the President to continues to function as a public relation firm for the Democrats and lawfare has been weaponized to the point Democrats (like their successionise forebears) tried to remove a candidate they don't like from the ballot and put him in jail.
Everything in politics is maximized. There is no middle. Reaganism, or conservatism in general, can't function without a middle.
A counterrevolution is understandable once the democrat party became a revolutionary movement.
What an odd comment. Taken literally, you are recognizing that the GoP has abandoned its core conservative principles.
And what do you think happened to the democrat's core "liberal" principles?
Focus, Vic, we are talking about the GoP under Trump. Constantly deflecting away from any criticism of Trump and the way he has damaged the GoP should be the first glaring clue that Trump is bad news and should not be blindly praised or supported.
They are doing the best they can.
I'm loving every minute of this past 6 months and I'm looking forward to the next 3 and a half years. Thereafter the counterrevolution will continue. Those who carry the torch will be far more polished than Donald Trump.
The left was very successful in taking over America's institutions. They are finally being removed. It is the beginning of the end for them.
“If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.”
― Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
What have you imagined is the good that is happening and will continue to happen?
There is absolutely nothing similar to the democrats of today and the democrats of their parents/grandparents. Yes, there were a few radical leftists in the 60/70s, but it seems that radical leftist is pretty much an oxymoron today.
I am no fan of Reagan, but Donald Trump would disgust Reagan.
You mean Ronald Reagan, the Democrat for Nixon? Reagan was a Democrat until 1962 when he switched to the Republican Party at age 51. That means Reagan did not support Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, or Jimmy Carter.
Would Reagan have embraced Trump? Hard to say. Trump has been shrinking government. Trump has been strengthening national defense. Trump has pursued diplomacy with Russia rather than direct confrontation. (Putin is not going to be suckered by Trump the way Reagan suckered Gorbachev. Clinton poisoned that well.) Reagan even imposed tariffs on Japan automakers to protect Detroit with the Auto-Industry Tariff Agreement of 1981.
Reagan laid the foundation for destroying the United States and opened the door for Bill Clinton to implement the destruction of the Untied States. Conservatives love Reagan because they thought killing government would give them free money. But those conservatives ran to China and sold out the United States. Those with wealth and power in the United States are not paragons of patriotism. Those with wealth and power have dulled Reagan's legacy to the point that Reagan has become a reviled President. But most of the revulsion stems from Bill Clinton's handling of the Reagan legacy.
Of course not. Reagan was a core conservative who believed in limited government, fidelity to the CotUS and the rule of law. He held the office of the presidency in great respect and did his best to uphold the dignity of the office.
That Reagan would be anything less than disgusted seeing an abysmal human being like Trump as PotUS is laughable.
Not so sure about that. Reagan didn't turn on Newt Gingrich who was also a Trump-style Republican. IMO it would be a mistake to diminish or ignore Reagan's 11th commandment and advocacy for party loyalty.
So he was a republican.
That's what I said.
The GoPTRUMP is substantially different from the GoPREAGAN. Likely Reagan would today state that the GoP has left him.
A new goalpost? Do you want to go back to Newt Gingrich and the Norquist pledge?
Goalpost? My comments say the same thing: The GoPTRUMP is substantially different from the GoPREAGAN.
Reagan would not recognize the GoP of today.
I would like a GoP that at least tried to hold to the principles of limited government, rule of law, CotUS, sense of duty for the people, family values, and fiscal responsibility.
He did?
I thought Clinton only became President because a third-party candidate split the Republican vote.
Yes, he did. The Federal government is what makes the United States exceptional. Without the Federal government, the country is wide open for all manner of destruction. Ronald Reagan was not a reformer, he did not call for reforming and strengthening government. Reagan's anti-government rhetoric opened the door for a grifter President to actively destroy the governmental guardrails that protected the United States.
Bill Clinton became President because G.H.W. Bush backtracked on a 'no taxes' pledge. Those in the private sector who were actively engaged in destroying the United States wanted a grifter in the White House who would hand them control over government and the country. NAFTA was not intended to strengthen the United States. The repeal of Glass-Stegall was not intended to stabilize and strengthen the productive economy.
How many illegals did Reagan pardon?
Does amnesty count?
Roughly 6 million was the answer.
Trump sure isn't following it and never intended to.