I can't help but think that he was both the man we needed then and the man we need now. I was watching some of the coverage of the celebration of his 100th birthday and it struck me what a good man he was. Conspiracy theories have floated that the Iranian hostage crisis was engineered to aid him in defeating President Carter. Who did Reagan send to meet the hostages upon their release? Carter.
Reagan's speeches were powerful and full of prose. No one can ever forget his comment on the Challenger tragedy when he said "they slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God" or his admonition to Gorbachev in Berlin where, despite resistance from his own administration and the State Department, he cried "Tear down this wall".
He was inspiring and firm. He would not move against the threat against liberty of Communism and Socialism and he stood firm to bankrupt the Soviet Union.
We need another Reagan and I hope we can find him.
Reagan was fond of the term and idea that it is sunrise in America. Today is its dusk and we must find the man or woman to light us through the evening and on into the new day. If I see that person, I will do my best to point them out, but they are few and far between. I would love to say that I could even be that man, but from what I know of Reagan, I could not live up to him.
This country was blessed by his intervention and is in more need of it now than ever.
And yes, the birthday was yesterday. It took me a bit to get around to this.
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