October 22, 2012
My Monday readers are a diverse bunch. Mostly Americans, but a growing number of “others.” Adults, but you (all) don’t share a generational affiliation. In fact, the demographic that is expanding quickly for us is the under-40 crowd.
If you’re in that First Half contingent, you never saw the name “Ronald Reagan” on a ballot; you were under-aged when he won his bid for a second term in 1984 with 58% of the national vote – and 525 of the 538 electoral votes – which exposed a level of national unity we may never see again.
Tonight, two candidates will work to woo the undecided, hoping to prevail when the votes are counted in just over two weeks. Undoubtedly, some memorable lines will be quoted tomorrow from the comments made in Florida tonight; most will be forgotten after the dust settles on November 7th.
Someday, Jesus will be the Head of the Government; we don’t have a perfect candidate until He returns. In the meantime, I’m looking to cast my vote for the choice most likely to embody what a mere mortal (our best shot, until Jesus) has modeled. In preparation for tonight – and, for November 6th – let me resurrect Mr. Reagan, to express some of the wisdom that helped America regain its footing about three decades ago. In no chronological order, the words of Ronald Wilson Reagan:
- “There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.”
“Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.”
“Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.”
“We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much”
“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
“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.”
“Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
“Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
“Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.”
“I made a speech by that title – “A Time for Choosing” – in 1964. I said, ‘We’ve been told increasingly that we must choose between left or right.’ But we’re still using those terms – left or right. And I’ll repeat what I said then in ’64. ‘There is no left or right. There’s only an up or down:’ up to the ultimate in individual freedom, consistent with an orderly society – or down to the totalitarianism of the ant heap. And those today who, however good their intentions, tell us that we should trade freedom for security are on that downward path.”
“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”
“We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”
I’m going to cast my vote for the candidate most likely to say “amen” to the insights expressed by the 40th President of the United States. May God preserve America.
Bob Shank