MrSpkr's random thoughts . . .

Monday, June 07, 2004

This past weekend, I was in New Orleans visiting the D=Day Museum for the 60th anniversary celebrations. After the museum closed on Saturday afternoon, I walked through the French Quarter with a friend. As I passed by a bar, I saw vintage footage of Reagan (from his Presidency), and that is how I learned of his death.

Ronald Reagan was the single most influential political figure in my life. I grew up in the 1970s, amongst a popular media culture that could find little right in America, and a pair of presidents, Carter and Ford, that were ineffectual at best. I wondered, idly, whether the past was going to be better than my future.

Then this actor from California came on the scene. He told my generation that it was okay to love America; that America was worthy of love, respect, hard work, and all that a citizen could give her. He restored our national sense of pride and optimism.

Frankly, my one great political regret was that I was not able to vote for him (I turned 18 three months after the 1984 election).

He continued to be a tremendous influence on my life and my development as a conservative. Reagan and his philosophy became the benchmark against which I measured other politicians, and their policies. His influence was such that my eldest son bears his name – Philip Reagan Hines.

My prayers are now with Nancy and his family; but I cannot help but wonder whether I should extend them to the conservative movement as a whole. I wonder, at times, whether conservatives will continue to embrace Reagan’s policies, or whether we are doomed to repeating the mistakes of the past.

In any event, it is a sad day not only for America, but for the world. God bless and keep Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Steve

- posted by MrSpkr @ 11:30

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