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May 13, 2004 I, along with America, lost one of our heroes this week. Ronald Reagan was a key figure in my indoctrination to the political world. He was first nominated as the Republican candidate for president during that party's 1980 political convention in my hometown of Detroit. Before the convention of that summer in 1980, I had very little interest in the political world. As a typical teenage boy at the time, I was more interested in the exploits of my Detroit Tigers than any Republican or Democrat. I was, however, old enough to recognize the agony and malaise in which the Unites States suffered through during the Carter regime. The city of Detroit in particular was ravaged by the economics of the day. I knew it was time for a change, a different perspective. From the beginning, there was something uplifting to me about Ronald Reagan. The way he spoke, carried himself and generally treated others is how I modeled my own behavior. He never wavered in his beliefs, never waffled under enormous pressure and never cowtowed to the opinions of others, which often had little foundation behind them. When Reagan spoke, there was reason to feel good. He was a beacon which pulled this nation out of the doldrums when it appeared we were more than ready and willing to give in. The Reagan era was also my first indoctrinization into the bias of the media. I had little understanding at the time what was politically left or right, conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat. I did, however, have the sense to know when I was not seeing the whole side of the story. Reagan was bashed endlessly in the press and by a preponderance of the pop culture of the day. I'll never forget "Ray-Gun" blasted across the headline of The Detroit News in response to Reagan's Stretegic Defense Initiative (SDI) or "Star Wars" as it was called. (All SDI did was convince the Soviet Union it could not win the Cold War and was a big impetus in the decline of Communism in that state.) And the "Saturday Night Live" skits portraying Reagan as a bumbling fool one step away from launching nuclear war with a push of a button while trying to change his tv channel are indelibly etched in my brain. Funny? A little. Fair? Not in the least. Reagan was branded as a warmongering cowboyish, dimwitted actor without the sense that most possess at birth. Sound familiar? In retrospect, Regan's presidency was a homerun, and a grand-slam at that. He took over the reigns of an economy with double-digit inflation, soaring unemployment and interest rates approaching 20% and turned it around relatively quickly. His policies ushered in the longest period of economic growth in the nation's history and he did so without new big government institutions and programs. Under Reagan's leadership, and to the surprise of many, the income of minorities rose at a faster rate than at any other time in the nation's history. (Don't wait for the liberal press to give him credit for this though.) Reagan accomplished more than just economic gain though. He helped people regain the pride and sense of purpose which helped build this great nation, which had been sorely lacking during much of the 1970's. And he did so without looking back and without apology. I am in complete shock at the amount of favorable press I have read since President Reagan's death. For a man which most of the press despised, it is interesting to watch them now depict him as a hero. (Perhaps the only true way for a conservative to appeal to the popular media is to die.) I tend to wonder if future citizens will be reading similar praises of our current president and his policies. It certainly makes one take the current criticisms of President Bush with a giant grain of salt. ------------ About the author: Ed Abraham is a concerned citizen living in flyover country, U.S.A., who happens to be truly disgusted by the loss of common sense in our society and is doing all he can to try to reinstall it. Email: eabra@myway.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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