By
Allan Wall
December 11, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
This year, 2011, marks the centennial of the birth of Ronald Wilson Reagan, who served as President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.
In the conservative movement and the Republican party, Reagan is still considered the exemplary politician of the 20th century, and many of us were greatly influenced by him.
Reagan has his admirers in other countries. This year statues of Reagan were unveiled in Poland, Georgia (the ex-Soviet country) and London, England (on July 4th).
Reagan was born February 6th, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. His upbringing exemplified the solid Midwestern values of a bygone era.
Reagan became a Hollywood movie star, actually serving for a time as president of the Screen Actors’ Guild, then eventually got into politics and served as Governor of California.
Reagan used to be a New Deal Democrat but switched to become a Republican. But the way he put it, it was the Democratic party that had changed, and not him.
Eventually, Reagan began running for the presidency. But he didn’t become president overnight. In fact, his pursuit of the presidency demonstrates the value of persistence. Reagan first ran for president in 1968 and was defeated by Richard Nixon in the primary.
In 1976 Reagan was defeated (barely) by incumbent Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination. Ford mockingly told Reagan that “you (conservatives) are not a majority in this country, and you’re not even a majority in the Republican party. ” Ford went on to lose the election to Jimmy Carter. Four years later, in 1980, Reagan had won the presidency.
Ronald Reagan was a polarizing figure as many true leaders are, and he was harshly excoriated by many leftists.
Reagan stood up for free enterprise and opposed the Soviet Empire. We were told that he was a madman who was going to destroy the world, but when his second term ended in 1989, the world was still intact.
There was something about Reagan’s personality too that was quite refreshing. He didn’t take himself too seriously, had a sense of humor, and didn’t display personal rancor against political opponents and critics.
Reagan had some great oratory as well. For example, there was the Challenger speech in 1986. And there were the stirring words at the Berlin Wall, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Ronald Reagan died in 2004, and even today all the movers and shakers in the Republican party represent themselves as following in the footsteps of Reagan, even if they’re really not.
Reagan made some mistakes as president, and many of his goals went unrealized. Under Reagan and the Congresses that worked with him, the size of the federal government was not reduced.
Worse yet, after eight years of Reagan, the Left still controlled the nation’s media and educational establishment. The Culture War is still being won by the leftists.
Reagan’s biggest mistake was to sign the 1986 Amnesty for illegal aliens. The idea was that it would be a one-time amnesty, and from then on the law would be enforced.
Reagan should have known better. Amnesty encourages more illegal immigration. There are so many illegal aliens now that the quantity we had in 1986 is a fraction of what we have today.
Mass immigration, both legal and illegal, is driving the unprecedented demographic transformation of our country into one in which whites will be a minority by 2050, if not sooner. Most immigrants vote for the Democratic party, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. The demographic transformation is thus a disaster for the Republican party, or any party which claims to support limited government.
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Not only that, but if present trends continue, by 2100 the U.S. will be a majority Hispanic nation. This is the biggest change facing our country and hardly anybody wants to talk about it, unless it is celebrated. We certainly never voted on it.
Ronald Reagan did his part to accelerate this demographic transformation, which is working to undo what he did accomplish.
Nevertheless, I still admire Reagan for his persistence, what he was able to do, the principles he stood for, and how he was able to motivate others to work for those principles. Reagan had the courage to set the agenda, rather than following the agenda set by the Democrats. And that’s a good example for us today.
� 2011 Allan Wall - All Rights Reserved
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Allan Wall recently returned to the U.S. after residing many years in Mexico.
Website: www.allanwall.info
E-Mail:
allan39@provalue.net
