My Tribute to Ronald Reagan, the Gipper

My Tribute to Ronald Reagan, the Gipper
By Jeff Head, June 5, 2004

These are my feelings at the passing of a truly great American...one that history itself will testify that those who personally witnessed his life and service to this nation were among the most tremendously blessed and priveleged American citizens of all time.

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was simply the greatest President in my lifetime, and I believe the greatest President of the 1900's. He was most probably among the greatest three Presidents this nation has ever had.

He epitomized the traditional American spirit of a positive, can-do attitude, reliance on fundamental moral principle eminating from faith in God, dedication to the principles of individual liberty, and a commitment to the soveriegnty and independence of this great, free Republic we call the United States of America.

His foreign policy "brought down the wall" and curtailed one of the greatest menaces to freedom the world has ever known. Contrary to revisionist and liberals/marxists/socialists who would want to bestow some of that glory and honor on the likes of Gorbachov...the world knows...God knows...and we know that it was Ronald Reagan and his drive and vision that ended that particular incarnation of the Evil Empire. History shall record it so.

His economic policy turned the misery index of the late 70's into a boom for American industry and into personal opportunities for growth for the individual American citizen. I lived through Carter's misery index, having gotten married as a young 22 year-old during that disasterous administration...and having grown up seeing the Rockerfeller Republican mechanisms before Reagan...I personally saw and lived through the unbelievable difference Ronald Reagan and his policies made.

We were proud of our nation, proud of ourselves, proud of the flag, and proud to be called American citizens under Ronald Reagan. His enthusiasm was contagiuos...his optimism was inspriring and his ability to communicate and get even those who did not initially agree with him to come around to the "American" way of thinking was legend.

In some ways I feel as though a sterling light, a great shining beacon on a hill has gone out...even though his administration ended years ago.

Despite that, his influence has remained, and will remain...and it is now up to us to ensure it continues.

We have several challenges in our time...the great challenge of terrorism based on Islamofascism and the even worse evil (IMHO) of one of its chief abettors and manipulators for the use of terror against America...another evil empire in our time, the Red Chinese and those globalists who are enabling them. We also have the even more insidious challenge of the continued encroachment on personal liberty, on our national soveriegnty and independence that many enemies and sappers amongst us, within our own perimeter, continue to foist on our Republic. They do it under many names, in the name of the UN, NGO's, globalism, choice for death, so called third ways that are nothing more or less that the way of tyrants past and present, Environmentalism, sustainable habitats that are in reality controlled habitats...and the list goes on and on. I pray we can follow in Reagan's footsteps and resolutely meet these challenge head-on as the Gipper did.

God bless and rest you Ronald Reagan...and God comfort and keep you Nancy.

RONALD REAGAN QUOTES:

I know here that you will agree with me that standing up for America also means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. I believe this country hungers for a spiritual revival. I believe it longs to see traditional values reflected in public policy again. To those who cite the first amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: The first amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.
Only when the human spirit can worship, create, and build, only when people are given a personal stake in determining their own destiny and benefiting from their own risks, do societies become prosperous, progressive, dynamic, and free.
No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
It is time, indeed, to do more than just talk of a better world. It is time to act. And we will act when nations cease to try to impose their ways upon others. And we will act when they realize that we, for whom the achievement of freedom has come dear, will do what we must to preserve it from assault.
It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I Do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.
Let it be said of us that we, too, did not fail; that we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this Chamber as we are meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty -- this last, best hope of man on Earth.
Faith in God, patriotism, freedom, the love of freedom, family, work, neighborhood -- the heart and soul of America's past and the promise of her future. If we stand together and live up to these principles, we will not fail.
I’ve always believed that this land was set aside in an uncommon way, that a divine plan placed this great continent between the oceans to be found by a people from every corner of the earth who had a special love of faith, freedom and peace.
Yes, we Americans have our disagreements, sometimes noisy ones, almost always in public -- that's the nature of our open society--but no foreign power should mistake disagreement for disunity. Those who are tempted to do so should reflect on our national character and our history--a history littered with the wreckage of regimes who made the mistake of underestimating the vigor and will of the American people.
Millions have gone before us, And millions will come behind,
So why do we curse and fight, At a fate both wise and kind?
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."
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all. And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

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Jeff Head (jeffhead.com) is an engineering consultant who has many years of experience in the power, defense, and computer industries. He is a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, and he is also the author of a self-published and best-selling fictional series of military techno-thrillers, called the Dragon's Fury Series of novels (dragonsfuryseries.com) that projects a fictional third world war arising out of current events.

You can read about that series by clicking on the pictures of the novel covers below:

THE DRAGON'S FURY SERIES OF NOVELS