Tag Archives: Ronald Reagan

Three themes in this presidential campaign Reply

Politics, Republican, the Economy • Tags: ,

By Tom Quiner

Ronald Reagan presented a relentless message of hope

The theme of Barack Obama’s campaign is fairness.

Taking his cue from the Occupy Wall Street Crowd, he targets capitalism and Big Business as the root cause of our problems. Envy is the foundation of his message: you are downtrodden because the “rich” are making money on your backs. The job of government is to take from the rich and redistribute it to the ninety-nine percent in the name of fairness.

Mr. Obama obviously cannot run on his record. It is a disaster, but irrelevant to the legions of voters who buy into the politics of envy.  He’ll be tough to beat.

The second theme is liberty, as touted by Ron Paul.

Mr. Paul deserves credit for delivering a consistent message that our freedom is dependent upon adherence to the Constitution. In that sense, he is the anti-Obama. Mr. Paul’s take on the Constitution swerves to the Left in the realm of foreign policy. Most don’t buy into the isolationism he touts. But I respect much of what he says economically, even though his style grates on me.

My concern is that too many Americans are apathetic about their freedoms. Team Obama is targeting our religious and economic liberties with a brazen disregard for the Constitution.

They have expanded the budget of government, the number of federal union employees (90% of whom vote Democrat), and federal regulations at the expense of the Constitution and liberty.

Ron Paul’s message of Liberty is vital. Will it resonate?

The third theme is Prosperity.

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum all espouse this theme in some form or other. Mssrs. Romney and Santorum gear their rhetoric a little more strongly toward “job creation,” which isn’t bad. But the only way, the ONLY WAY Republicans can win is with a strong, unabashed message of economic prosperity.

Unfortunately, Mitt Romney carries so much baggage, he probably can’t beat the incumbent. His experience at Bain Capital, right or wrong, feeds into the perception that he represents the 1%, that his experience pits him in an adversarial role against the ninety-nine percent.

I’m in the marketing business and perception is reality.

Can Mitt Romney change the perception that he is an elitist? It will be tough. The media will side with Obama. They will trumpet the president’s class-warfare rhetoric to every corner of the earth.

I’m concerned that Mr. Romney can’t sufficiently galvanize conservative voters. His record as Governor of Massachusetts is abysmal. He signed Romneycare into law, the model for Obamacare. Everyone already knows that. They don’t know that his record for appointing judges was also poor with many liberals getting appointed to the bench.

He left office with a dozen unfilled judgeships for his liberal successor, Deval Patrick, to fill.

His association with Bain Capital makes Mr. Romney suspect, too. Bain Capital gives money to lots of politicians. When you look at the politicians they gave the most money to, 26 out of 29 were Democrats.

They gave money to Ted Kennedy.

They gave money to Al Franken, John Kerry, and Anthony Weiner.

Mr. Obama’s prescription for economic growth is Keynesian-oriented, or in other words, Obamanomics Lite with loose-money monetary policy and targeted tax cuts to politically-favored classes.

Newt Gingrich has a fabulous economic plan, but he is bogged down in a tit-for-tat campaign with Romney.

In tonight’s debate, I’d like to see the Republicans proclaim a positive message. They should take their cue from Ronald Reagan who exuded hope in this excerpt from a 1964 speech:

“You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream — the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, ” ‘The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.’ “

Or this excerpt from his 1985 inaugural address:

“We are creating a nation once again vibrant, robust, and alive. There are many mountains yet to climb. We will not rest until every American enjoys the fullness of freedom, dignity, and opportunity as our birthright. It is our birthright as citizens of this great republic.”

Or this excerpt from his 1981 inaugural address:

“It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work — work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.”

And finally, savor his positive characterization of the beauty of the free enterprise system:

“We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefitting from their success — only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.”

Three themes are on the table in this campaign: fairness, liberty, and prosperity.

Prosperity is THE message that will resonate with the most people.

How to destroy a nation Reply

Political Correctness, Politics • Tags: , , ,

By Tom Quiner

It is essential to squash a people’s independent spirit to bring them down.

America is the most independent nation in history. That is changing. As the chilling video above reveals, our kids coming out of public schools today increasingly have a sense of entitlement. In other words, they are increasingly comfortable to become dependent on government.

The teachers union controls our kid’s curriculum, and they downplay capitalism and American Exceptionalism at the same time they nurture political correctness, multiculturalism, and envy.

President Obama builds on the degradation of achievement with his support of the Occupy Wall Street Crowd and his demonization of America’s top producers (aka “the rich”).

Let me pause here. I come from a family of public school teachers. There are teachers doing wonderful work against increasingly tough odds these days.

I honor these teachers and the teaching profession.

I do not honor the teachers union who have a stunning influence on our children and national politics. They were one of Barack Obama’s biggest campaign supporters. They have politicized education.

Under Mr. Obama, 44% of Americans receive some sort of payment from government compared to 29% (still a huge number) under President Reagan.

The video above reveals the sense of entitlement our youth have ingrained in them by the time they reach college.

Let me leave you with this question: does a sense of entitlement make a country stronger or weaker?

A beautiful Christmas message from Ronald Reagan Reply

Faith, Religion • Tags:

By Tom Quiner

Let’s turn the clock back thirty years to hear the beautiful Christmas address of a president who loved Christ.

Ronald Reagan wasn’t afraid to call Jesus the Christ. He called a Christmas tree a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree. He gave no quarter to the politically correct Thought Police who want to expunge Christianity.

Mr. Reagan’s words grow in their impact with each passing year. It is refreshing to hear a president celebrate the single, most important event in history when God became Man.

Merry Christmas.

December 23rd, 1981 Reply

Politics • Tags: , ,

By Tom Quiner

Today, international drama rages in the Mideast. During the Reagan years, it raged in Eastern Europe.

A dozen days before Christmas in 1981, the communist government in Poland declared marshal law on their citizens. Poles were devastated.

President Reagan sprung into action. He called Pope John Paul II and offered support. Two days before Christmas, he met with the Polish ambassador and his wife in the White House. He walked the distraught Poles to their car in the freezing rain. Then he addressed the American people, as you can watch above.

The details of this encounter are worth reliving, as written by Dr. Paul Kengor.

***

Christmas 1981 – A Flame for Freedom in Poland

By Dr. Paul Kengor

December 2011 might not be an anniversary on the minds of American Catholics, but it is close and near and dear to the hearts of Polish Catholics. As American Catholics, we ought to pause here, today, to consider why. The reasons are historically and even spiritually inspiring.

It was 30 years ago, December 13, 1981, that martial law was imposed upon Poland by the communist government. Poles were aghast, horrified, frightened. And so was the man in Rome, a Polish native named John Paul II, and so was another man thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, President Ronald Reagan.

When word of the communists’ actions reached the White House, President Reagan was furious. He wanted to help the people of Poland in any way he could. At that very moment, Reagan committed to save and sustain the Polish Solidarity movement as the wedge that could splinter the entire Soviet bloc, as the first crack in the Iron Curtain.

One of Reagan’s first responses was to call someone he deeply respected: John Paul II. On December 14, he told the Holy Father: “Our country was inspired when you visited Poland, and to see their commitment to religion and belief in God. It was an inspiration…. All of us were very thrilled.”

At that point, Reagan had not yet met John Paul II in person. Reagan had been president only for 11 months. Both he and John Paul II had been shot earlier in the year. Reagan told the Pope that he looked forward to a time when the two men could meet in person. The imposition of martial law added a special urgency. Reagan wanted to meet with the Pope to plan ways to cooperate.

Reagan followed up with two letters to John Paul II, dated December 17 and 29, 1981, neither of which was declassified until July 2000. In the December 17 letter, he asked the Pope to urge Poland’s General Jaruzelski to hold a meeting with Lech Walesa and the Poland’s Archbishop Glemp. In the second letter, Reagan explained the counter-measures his administration was taking against the USSR; he also asked the Pope to use his influence with the Polish Church to lift martial law, to gain the release of detainees, and to resume a dialogue with Solidarity; and he requested that John Paul II press other Western countries to join the United States. “If we are to keep alive the hope for freedom in Poland,” said Reagan, “it lies in this direction.”

There is much more I could say about all of this, having written books on the subject, but one item that happened precisely 30 years ago, right now, on December 23, 1981, is especially moving and notable:

On that date, Reagan held a private meeting in the White House with the Polish ambassador, Romuald Spasowski, and his wife, both of whom had just defected to the United States. Michael Deaver, a close Reagan aide, witnessed the meeting. Deaver later recorded:

The ambassador and his wife were ushered into the Oval Office, and the two men sat next to one another in plush-leather wingback chairs. Vice President Bush, and the ambassador’s wife, sat facing them on a couch. 

The ambassador had in his hand a pocket-sized note pad with wire rings and lined paper, and he was obviously referring to notes he wanted to give to the president of the United States. Meanwhile, his wife, a tiny, delicate-looking woman, kept her head in her hands the entire time, while George Bush put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. 

The ambassador said, “It is unbelievable to me that I am sitting in the office of the president of the United States. I wish it were under better circumstances.” 

He begged the president never to discontinue Radio Free Europe. “You have no idea,” he said, “what it meant to us to hear the chimes of Big Ben during World War Two. Please, sir, do not ever underestimate how many millions of people still listen to that channel behind the Iron Curtain.” 

Then, almost sheepishly, he said, “May I ask you a favor, Mr. President? Would you light a candle and put in the window tonight for the people of Poland?” 

And right then, Ronald Reagan got up and went to the second floor, lighted a candle, and put it in the window of the dining room. 

President Reagan escorts the Polish ambassador and his wife to their car.

Later, in what I still recall as the most human picture of the Reagan presidency, he escorted his guests through the walkway and out to the circular drive on the South Lawn of the White House. In a persistent rain, he escorted them to their car, past the C-9 Secret Service post, holding an umbrella over the head of the wife of the Polish ambassador, as she wept on his shoulder.
That candle might have brought to mind those lit after Mass by a young Karol Wojtyla. Then and now, they burned bright for Russia’s conversion.

But Reagan did more than that. That evening, with Christmas only two days away, the president gave a nationally televised speech watched by tens of millions of Americans. He connected the spirit of the Christmas season with events in Poland: “For a thousand years,” he told his fellow Americans, “Christmas has been celebrated in Poland, a land of deep religious faith, but this Christmas brings little joy to the courageous Polish people. They have been betrayed by their own government.” He made an extraordinary gesture: The president asked Americans that Christmas season to light a candle in support of freedom in Poland.

This was a remarkable display, one that placed all Americans on the side of freedom for Poland—and against the communists.

I’m sure it was appreciated, too, by a Polish Catholic named Karol Wojtyla.

Thirty years ago, December 1981, the communists tried to turn out the lights in Poland. But like a candle in the White House window, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II and the people of Poland kept a flicker of hope alive.

It may seem like a long time ago, distant to the interests of Americans today. In truth, this was a crucial turning point for the world, for freedom, and for faith. It is a history lesson worth taking to heart, especially this Christmas.

Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College. His books include The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan’s Top Hand (Ignatius Press), God and Ronald Reagan, and The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.

Do you know anyone Polish? Forward this post, e-mail it, send them the link, and post it on your Facebook page.


Peace begins in the womb 3

Pro-Life • Tags: , , ,

By Tom Quiner

If a society allows the weakest in society to be exterminated without raising a finger, anything is possible.

For a generation, America has turned its back on our most vulnerable little ones with unfettered abortion “rights” at the expense of the pre-born.

Does it matter?

The Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 negated all legal protections for the pre-born on the books at the state level. Overnight, they were hung out to dry, so to speak.

Since then, America has changed.

The divorce rate went up.

Child abuse increased.

Drug abuse increased.

Illegitimacy exploded.

The African-American community was decimated.

Pornography use increased.

The nation’s replacement birth rate plummeted.

Is there any connection?

How can there not be a correlation? When a nation’s top legal body says human life is expendable when it is in the womb, it suggests that the value of human life is conditional, not absolute.

In one fell swoop, the Court degraded the value of humanity, and we have experienced a dramatic increase in social pathology ever since. We invest tremendous resources trying to fix the problems created by the Court’s decision to declare war on the womb.

This country has many great human beings who are vocal peace advocates. I notice something about so many of them, though. The same people critical of our wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, these ardent peace advocates, are far too frequently advocates of abortion rights.

And yet one of their fellow peace advocates, the late John Paul II, a man who shared their opinions on those wars, had this to say:

“America you are beautiful . . . and blessed . . . . The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless. If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life.”

In other words, peace begins in the womb.

Another peace advocate, Mother Teresa of Calcutta put it this way:

“I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is Abortion, because it is a war against the child… A direct killing of the innocent child, Murder by the mother herself… And if we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love… And we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts…”

Mother Teresa puts it quite simply when she says:

“We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, killings, of wars, or of hatred…If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other?”

Ronald Reagan put it this way:

“Simple morality dictates that unless and until someone can prove the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is (alive). And, thus, it should be entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Simple morality doesn’t seem so simple in light of America’s 53 million abortions since the Roe decision.

And yet it seems so obvious when we listen to Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and Ronald Reagan.

Peace begins in the womb.

[Quiner's Diner subscription drive continues. If you enjoyed this post, please e-mail it to a friend or post it on your Facebook page. Encourage them to sign up for a free subscription. You may also enjoy this post: "Vending machine abortions victimize women."]