We Were There

It is quite simply, impossible for me to do justice to Ronald Wilson Reagan by way of eulogy. Perhaps I served that purpose already, when I posted this article back in February.

Please, take a moment and go read it. You'll have a sense of my heart, and perhaps an understanding of why I was quite unable to write any more than the simple acknowledgement of his passing in the previous post.

But The Gipper would not want us to grieve for more than is seemley. If President Reagan stood for anything, it was the confidence in the greatness of America. And in Americans.

Ever the optimist, Ronald W. Reagan saw light where others saw but darkness and fear. Following the path that perhaps only he could see, he led this onto a path of renewed greatness, the likes of which have yet to been repeated.

My words may fail me, but his did not. Nor will they now.

Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1970

"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."

First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981

"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. "

Address to National Association of Realtors, March 28, 1982

"It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history.... [It is] the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism- Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people."

Speech to Britain's Parliament, June, 1982

"Let us beware that while they [Soviet rulers] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination over all the peoples of the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.... I urge you to beware the temptation ... to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil."

Address to the Nation, March 23, 1983

"There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits on the human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder."

February 11, 1988

"A friend of mine was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist."

Address to the nation, October 27, 1964

"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."

Notre Dame University, May 17, 1981

"The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain Communism, it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written."

RNC Annual Gala, Feb. 3, 1994

"However, our task is far from over. Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success, and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history. Listening to the liberals, you'd think that the 1980's were the worst period since the Great Depression, filled with suffering and despair. I don't know about you, but I'm getting awfully tired of the whining voices from the White House these days. They're claiming there was a decade of greed and neglect, but you and I know better than that. We were there."

Indeed we were, President Reagan. Indeed we were.

And I wouldn't have missed the experience for all the treasure in the world.

Thank you.

( I invite you to put your favorite quotes from The Gipper into the comments. And trolls? Don't bother. I'll just delete any crap you post. )

Comments

[Martha]

This is really great!
I liked it much - more of this please!!!

CU soon