Readers Tributes To Ronald Reagan

Editor: Let me, please, express my sympathy to the American people and to all freedom-loving peoples around the world at the occasion of passing of a great man, American patriot and freedom-fighter, the 40th President of the U.S., Ronald Reagan. Requiescat in pacem. Roman Joch, Prague

Editor: For conservatives there is no greater reason to celebrate Ronal Reagan's legacy than the fact that there would be on conservative movement in the USA without him!

Barry Goldwater was the initiator of the conservative movement but Ronald Reagan was it's first effective voice. RR then took the movement to Washington, DC and showed the world that it is the right way to run government.

RR wanted to defeat Communism and taxes. He did both! He never wavered and today we have the fruits of his efforts. Tax revenues went up while tax rates went down. Communism has been relegated to a few third world countries that just don't get it.

The Democrats have continued to fight for more taxes but George W.Bush knows better. He has slashed taxes and we have an economic recovery in progress.

Democrats and liberals remain stupid on economic issues. The genius was RR and George W. Bush understands the RR legacy.

Evan

Editor: It seems like just yesterday I heard his speeches as former President Reagan spoke so optimistically to the nation and the world. He was known as a man who was an excellent communicator. When he took office our nation was in disarray, but he spoke so eloquently and sincerely that he brought both friend and foe together.

In his lifetime he was able to see the start of Communism and also blessed by God to see Communism and the Cold War come to an end. What an accomplishment for a man from Hollywood as the skeptics would have you believe. Reagan had a deep commitment to our country and to all who served in all capacities of the armed services. He restored patriotism in our country and the level of national pride escalated under His leadership.

Some folks have gone as far as to say he was the greatest President since FDR. He took the Office of President to heart and did all he could to help both sides of the aisles. You may not have agreed with his policies at all times, but even his critics loved him as their President.

Truly America has lost a hero in the passing of President Reagan. Our hearts are deeply moved for his family at this time of his departure. Perhaps as you reflect on all of the accomplishments that Reagan made during his administration you will glean many wonderful memories of him as I have. He was not just our President, but he appeared to be our friend also. His compassionate words for the men and women who fought to keep America free are fixed in my mind as I reflect on him. How fitting it is that he passed on the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Indeed, he too, was a fighter for freedom.

America is still longing for a President with his charm and high standards. We will miss him, but history will go down calling him one of our greatest Presidents. We need another great man like Reagan to lead America onward as we fight the wars of those who want to destroy our moral and spiritual fabric of our great nation. May God bless the Reagan family as they mourn his loss.

Dr. Ron Payne, DD, Pastor Church Without Walls Ministry, Hedgesville, WV

Editor: President Ronald Reagan. A man of vision. A man of hope. He never looked back, only ahead. As he said in his speech to the ACU on 3/20/81, "there is no left or right. There's only up or a down, up to the ultimate in individual freedom, man's age old dream". He was the forefather of conservatism because he truly believed that man's achievements come without the help of the government. Man can only persevere with guidance from above and with the spirit of individualism in his heart. President Reagan had such a strong faith and belief in God and was smart enough to know that it was, indeed, God that was in charge. And in order to preserve our freedoms we must protect God's precious people, whether it be the unborn or school children being misguided by people of authority. President Reagan protected us, the American people through strength. He understood that peace only comes through this strength. And where there is peace, there too, is freedom. And so, we must remember this wonderful President with gratitude, respect and a smile on our face. Ronald Reagan was a humble servant and we pray that he is happy in God's Heavenly Kingdom now and forever.

Sincerely, Diane M. Heiser, St. Augustine, FL

Editor: We went into the Capitol this morning following a young woman we know who is from the Republic of Georgia. By way of background, we met her about two years ago when she had just arrived in the U.S. for an internship at the Leadership Institute. At that time I asked her if there was any place in America she wanted to visit while she was here. Immediately she said, "Oh, yes! I want to go to California to visit the Reagan Library." I was amazed and asked her why. She said it was because he was her hero who had freed her people. I asked how she could have known the truth about him from behind the Iron Curtain and she said it was because her father had an illegal radio... the very possession of which could have sent him to prison...on which the family would listen to foreign radio news broadcasts at night. I found out later her Grandfather had been shot by Stalin, personally.

So, back to the Capitol this morning... as we were approaching the guard house we pulled out our ID's and when she looked down at her own passport she burst into uncontrollable sobs. After a moment she turned to us and said "if it weren't for him this would still say "Soviet Union" on it." His was, as he called it, an American life, but it's passing was a loss to the world.

Editor: In the summer of 1968, between my high school graduation and my freshman year at USC, I was a volunteer in the Reagan for President campaign at the Republican National Convention in Miami. Two years earlier I had worked very hard to elect Ronald Reagan as California's Governor, heading up the Burbank Youth for Reagan. And now I was excited that his upbeat conservative message would resonate across the other states as well, and lead him to the White House.

The convention hummed with excitement for Reagan. As our bus pulled up at each delegation's hotel, the Reagan rallies were packed. Long before he would make his dramatic entrance chants of "Rea-gan, Rea-gan" thundered and echoed throughout each venue. Then you could hear the applause start near the door, and wild whoops would erupt as Ronald Reagan slowly worked his way forward, shaking hands and patting delegates on the back as he approached the podium. His smile seemed to light up the room as he confidently strode across the stage, tanned and trim.

His message electrified the audiences as he delivered his message of belief in America's basic goodness; that our best years were ahead of us.

After the rallies we would mingle with the delegates while Reagan met with the leaders from that state. A disturbing refrain met us at each stop. Many of the delegates told me how much they admired Reagan and wanted to vote for him, but they were bound by previous commitments to other candidates. Some even shook their heads and cried as they told me how disappointed they were that they couldn't cast their ballot for the man they thought would be the best nominee. A post-convention article in Time Magazine summed it up well, "Their heads were with Richard Nixon, but their hearts were with Ronald Reagan."

The night of the nomination, I sat in the convention arena with three other Reagan youth volunteers; two were Reagan Girls from the Miami area and the third was a young law student from Indiana, the son of the Dean of Notre Dame's Law School. We kept tally as the states cast their votes for Nixon, Rockefeller, Scranton, Romney and Reagan. For a while it looked like no candidate would receive a majority, necessitating a second ballot. That is exactly what they Reagan troops wanted. On a second ballot the delegates who had been pledged to Nixon would be free to vote their conscience, and we knew Reagan would sweep the convention.

Alas, it was not to be so. Nixon inched his way over the top and won the nomination. It was a crushing blow to all of us Reagan kids. We were stunned and stood in silence for several minutes. Then we began making our way to the exit, stepping over burst balloons, discarded signs and mounds of confetti.

As we stepped into the hot and humid night, it was raining lightly. We stopped to get our bearings so we could head back to the headquarters hotel. The letters on our hand-painted Reagan signs were starting to run as the rain came down, and the girls' mascara was doing the same due to their tears. A white Lincoln Continental pulled out of the fenced area surrounding the press trucks, and drove past us. As the car went by, I saw the lone figure in the back seat reach forward and tap the driver on his shoulder. The car stopped, and backed up to where we were. The rear window slid down. It was our hero, Ronald Reagan. "I want you to know how proud I am that you young people would support me," Reagan said as he reached out and shook our hands. "Don't be discouraged. I promise you, you'll have another chance to work for me. Our day will come. We're not finished yet."

It was a gesture typical of Ronald Reagan: thoughtful, encouraging and forward-looking. At that moment of defeat, he took the time to stop and make sure four young volunteers weren't discouraged. And from that very moment of defeat, he had steeled himself for the task of running again for the presidency. He kept his promise, and I had the opportunity to volunteer for him again. It took him two more times, but he became the 40th President of the United States. As he told us so often in his speeches, America had a "rendezvous with destiny" to lead us toward the "shining city on the hill".

Pat Nolan

Editor: It is appointed once for man to die... It is inevitable, we all will one day die, the question is though how will we be remembered? Will there be a brief blip in the funeral announcements in our local paper? Will we have family and friends who will feel the emptiness and pain of our departure? Will those left remember us with love and fondness, or will they recall a selfish, hateful individual? Does our legacy leave our family, friends, and our world a better place? How will they mourn us?

The media monguls known to spew their agendas via television radio and print have set aside political bias for the past few days to honor a man who was known to be an optimist. Just by typing in the name Ronald Reagan into my computers search engine up came twenty links on its first page listing articles that contained within their synopsis of Reagan the term 'incredible optimist.' Not an optimist in the sense of blind faith, but an incredible optimist based on principles, and values shared by most Americans and by many abroad.

How can it possibly be that one man, with one vision and one deep love for his country change the face of the media's bad news frenzy into one of tribute, honor, and reverence for an actor/politician who served his country for eight years? How can one man blur the political lines of differing ideologies? How did he move a globe full of politicians, news reporters and common people to not speak words that were necessarily in agreement with his philosophies, but were words of praise and admiration for a man known as The Gipper, The Great Communicator and the Incredible Optimist. Within less than 24 hours after his departure from this earth, every form of communication around this world carried a tribute to our former president.

What is it about this man that has moved many of us to feel a great sense of something lost? Was it his eternal optimism or perhaps his undying love for our Republic? Was it his belief that as long as America kept herself as a nation under God, and not divided we would survive as a Republic designed democracy? Was it his way of communicating, straight from the heart and always seeming to know what to say at any given moment? Or perhaps it was his unwavering stance of making decisions and following through without feeling the need to hold up his finger and find out which way the political winds were blowing at any given moment.

I believe it was all of the above.

Reagan, as many know, came from a poor home. His father was the town drunk, but as anyone can only here in America, he pulled himself up through the ranks to become not only a well-remembered actor, but also the President of the United States. Reagan believed in his country, he believed in the good hard working American, he was a traditionalist that kept his principles simple and succinct.

In his development of incredible optimism there is a story told by author Gary Aldrich. 'The ever-optimistic and enthusiastic Ronald Reagan loved to tell the story of how he, as a poor boy, always wanted a pony, but could not afford one. He shoveled lots of "stuff" out of the stables to earn extra money. Since there was always so much "stuff" in the stable, the ever-optimistic Reagan believed there was a chance he'd eventually uncover that much-desired pony' (November 2003 townhall.com). This is how Reagan lived his life, always believing that our silver lining of freedom would remain uncovered and visible as an example to all as long as we kept the communistic and socialistic black clouds of tyranny from overshadowing true yearning and living our blessings of freedom.

There are many angles one could write about our fortieth president, many have been and will continue to be written about Ronald Reagan. Some pieces will be honest; others will be full of half-truths, each writer contributing their own opinionated palettes upon our former leader.

Hopefully though, I pray all those who comment, write, or espouse about this man will never devalue his optimism, his ideologies, nor his great love for his country called America. You may disagree over the execution of his beliefs, but you can never question his great sense of humor, gentle mannerisms, incredible optimism, and love for God, country and home.

I believe when Tyler Page a clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote 'The American's Creed' in 1917, that this is what our fortieth President of these United States believed as well- "I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies."

This truly was the creed President Ronald Reagan upheld and adhered to before, during, and after his presidency and one worthy of continuation by all citizens of our great country. The man Reagan was not a summer patriot, he was a man who stood by America, and guided her through the night with a light from above. Reagan's patriotism is one we all need to emulate and set forth as a shining example to our children and the world around us.

America may she always remain, '… strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow steady no matter what storm. … still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home'

Now we as a nation must decide. What will the legacy of this man be for future generations to come? Many before him have laid the foundation- brick by brick-stone by stone-blood by blood-sacrifice by sacrifice. Will all the prior vigilant patriots call for freedom die in vain? May it never be, may we continue to fight for freedom, to right the wrongs and to gather ourselves back together as a Nation. It is the only way we can stand. It is the only way to pay tribute to the 'incredible optimism' of President Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Kerry L. Marsala writes for www.americonservative.com; www.azconservative.org; Opinion Editorials

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