Heritage Foundation: The Classical Virtues of Ronald Reagan

Here's a great tribute from Dr Lee Edwards of the Heritage Foundation:

The Classical Virtues of Ronald Reagan

The best political leaders embody the classical virtues of courage, prudence, justice, and wisdom. President Ronald Reagan had all these qualities and in abundance.

Courage

When he was shot on March 30, 1981, President Reagan seemed to spend most of his time reassuring everyone that he was not seriously hurt, although the bullet had stopped only one inch from his heart and the doctors were very concerned about his substantial blood loss. As he was wheeled into the operating room, he noted the long faces of his three top aides—James Baker, Ed Meese, and Michael Deaver—standing in the hall and asked, "Who’s minding the store?" When a distraught Nancy Reagan made her way to him, he lightly said, "Honey, I forgot to duck."

Both conservative and liberal commentators lauded Reagan. "The president’s imperishable example of grace under pressure," wrote George Will, "gave the nation a tonic it needed." "Everybody knows," wrote James Reston of The New York Times, "that people seldom act in the margin between life and death with such light-hearted valor as they do in the movies. Yet Ronald Reagan did."

It also takes courage to challenge an enemy like the Soviet Union when the stakes are high. There was vehement Soviet opposition to his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), but the President did not budge. At the Reykjavik summit, when both sides were very close to a far-ranging agreement on nuclear weapons, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pressed hard for laboratory testing only of SDI. Reagan refused. His steadfast commitment to SDI convinced the Kremlin that it could not win, or afford, a continuing arms race and led to an end of the Cold War at the bargaining table and not on the battlefield.

Prudence

Rather than dispatching American combat troops to trouble spots, Reagan assisted pro-freedom anti-Communist forces in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola, and Cambodia. National security analyst Peter Schweizer estimates that the cash-strapped Soviets spent $8 billion a year on counterinsurgency operations against U.S.-backed guerrillas. The accelerating Soviet losses in Afghanistan demoralized the Kremlin and the Red Army, hastening the collapse of the Soviet empire.

At home, Reagan practiced the politics of prudence by relying upon his "70 percent rule": If he could get 70 percent of what he wanted in the face of opposition, he would take his chances on coming back and getting the other 30 percent later. He wanted his 25 percent tax cut to take effect immediately in 1981 but agreed to phase it in over three years because the cuts were across the board. He was that rare politician who knew when to bend a little and when to stand firm.

Justice

Although it was not politically correct, President Reagan steadfastly defended the rights of every American—from the moment of conception to that of natural death. For him the sanctity of life was not a slogan but a fundamental principle to be honored. When in 1983 he wrote "Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation" (an essay for Human Life Review later published as a book), he became the first sitting President to write a book while in the White House.

His Administration sought not only to put America’s financial house in order and rebuild the nation’s defenses but also to put America’s moral house in order by protecting the unborn and allowing God back into the classroom.

Wisdom

President Reagan had the ability to foresee what others could not. In the early 1980s, liberal intellectuals such as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and John K. Galbraith were lauding the economic accomplishments of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Reagan told the British Parliament that a "global campaign for freedom" would prevail over the forces of tyranny and that "the Soviet Union itself is not immune to this reality." By the end of the decade, as he predicted, Marxism–Leninism was dumped on the ash heap of history.

In late 1981 and all of 1982, when his tax cuts had not yet kicked in and the U.S. economy still lagged, President Reagan reassured his worried aides and counseled them to stay the course. He had faith in the American people, who, if they could be "liberated from the restraints imposed on them by government," would pull "the country out of its tailspin." In the closing days of 1982, America began the longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history up to that time, creating 17 million new jobs during the Reagan years.

Ronald Reagan’s trust in the people and his love of freedom were rooted in two documents—the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. From his very first national speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater’s presidential bid in October 1964 to his farewell address to the nation in January 1989, Reagan turned again and again to the wisdom of the Founders. Indeed, more than once, he sounded like one of them.

Reiterating the central role of the American Revolution, the President said: "Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words, ‘We the people.’"

We tell the government what to do, he said; it doesn’t tell us. This simple and yet revolutionary idea of "We the people," he explained, was the underlying basis for everything he had tried to do as President.


Classical Virtues

The President reassured the men and women of the "Reagan Revolution" that they had made a difference. They had made America—that "shining city on a hill"—stronger and freer and had left her in good hands.

The city never shone brighter than when it was led by Ronald Reagan, who exemplified the virtues of courage, prudence, justice, and wisdom.

Lee Edwards, Ph.D., is Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought in the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

Sarah Palin: Ronald Reagan Was America's Lifeguard

As you know, in February we will celebrate Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. In honor of this, Sarah Palin has written a tribute to the Gipper for USA Today:

I had the privilege of coming of age during the era of Ronald Reagan. I like to think of him as America's lifeguard. As a teenager, Ronald Reagan saved 77 lives as a lifeguard on the Rock River, which ran through his hometown of Dixon, Ill. The day he was inaugurated in 1981, a local radio announcer famously declared, "The Rock River flows for you tonight, Mr. President."

The image of the lifeguard seems to represent what Reagan was to America and to the freedom-loving people of the world. He lifted our country up at a time when we were in the depths of economic, cultural and spiritual malaise. We were told that we must accept that the era of American greatness was over; but with his optimism and common sense, President Reagan held up a mirror to the American soul to remind us of our exceptionalism.

Reagan showed us that despite a deep recession, there could still be morning in America. He could speak to the economic troubles facing ordinary Americans because he understood what it was like to live through a Great Depression where families scraped to get by. And yet, he saw us recover from our Great Depression, and under his leadership we experienced the greatest peacetime economic boom in our history. He could speak to our fears that our years as a superpower were over, because he understood what it was like to see America at war and really fear that we might lose. And yet, he saw us win two world wars, and under his leadership we won the Cold War without firing a single shot. Reagan's belief in American greatness was rooted in historic fact, not blind optimism. He was a sunny optimist because he knew that our best days are yet to come.

Today, when we hear the worry in the voices of Americans wondering where the jobs will be for our children and grandchildren and wondering if the world will be safe and prosperous in the years to come, we should remember Reagan's faith in our inherent heroism and greatness. When we see people around the globe looking to the White House for leadership, we should remember Reagan's steel spine. He understood America's purpose in this world and what we need to do to secure liberty. As Margaret Thatcher said of him, "He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism." He sought those things and he succeeded.

This year, as we celebrate the centennial of Reagan's birth, let's remember the lifeguard from the Rock River who rescued us with his optimism and common sense. We need more lifeguards like him.

Indeed we do!

The vote I cast for Ronald Reagan in 1980 was my first. We had struggled through the Carter years. Reagan immediately made the nation feel strong again. It wasn't easy to turn things around, and it didn't happen over night. During the Carter years the media actually created something called a "misery index" to help Americans understand just how bad things were. America was in a malaise.

The thing Reagan did, with his optimism and belief in the American people, was inspiring. He had people believing in themselves again. As a strong leader he showed America the way, and America followed. It was Reagan's policies that created the longest period of economic growth in our nation's history. Americans were proud again. The American spirit had been lifted. Great successes followed.

It's a tribute to Reagan that he is still the standard that all great leaders are measured by.

As we look ahead for a new leader, for someone with the strength of character, as well as clarity of vision, I'm reminded of the horrible events of a few weeks back. The democrat party, aided by the corrupt media, worked hard to blood libel the 30 to 40 million Americans who are members of the Tea Party, trying desperately to tie the acts of a mad man to the group, as well as Sarah Palin.

Only one leader stood up and defended the honor of these millions of America. As she has been doing for the past several years, it was Sarah Palin who stood up to the left. Others hid out, still others, including many Republicans, told her to sit down and shut up. None had America's back.

Time and time again Sarah has shown that she is the only leader with the strength and conviction to stand up and be heard. The only leader who will fearlessly take on those who seek to tear America down.

I know this is a tribute to a great President, a great leader, and a great man, but as Sarah herself puts it, we need more lifeguards like Ronnie. I submit we have found one who is cut from the same cloth, someone who like Reagan, sees America as that Shining City on a Hill.

There is simply no one better to carry on the legacy of the great Ronald Reagan than Sarah Palin.