oracle
03-11-2001, 11:17 PM
As Reagan taught us, trend isn't destiny (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/845102)
By DAVID LANGWORTHY
Houston Cronicle
Isn't it a pleasure to watch the fuss being made over Ronald Reagan lately? Last month we celebrated the great man's 90th birthday; last week an aircraft carrier was named for him. The Chronicle headline called it "Reagan Mania." And so it is.
The fawning over Reagan is well deserved, albeit bittersweet given his battle with Alzheimer's. Along with Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan clearly was the towering figure in the 20th century presidency.
What made February's birthday recognition of Reagan all the more enjoyable was the consternation it caused to many on the left. It's clear that this man's increasing stature as a leader for the ages still bothers the hell out of a lot of folks. They continue to prefer the comfortable fiction that the man was an "amiable dunce."
They need to get over it: Ronald Reagan is a giant. He changed this country's course dramatically and for the better. In areas from foreign policy to the entrepreneurial economy and limiting the role of government, we're still registering the impact of the Reagan Revolution. A "Reagan agenda" is front and center in Washington. We'll continue to see its benefits for generations to come.
There's a self-interested reason for Reagan denigrators to get over it, too. That conceit of the left about Reagan's lack of mental capacity is not just a matter for historians to argue. It is the same mind-set at the root of "lowered expectations" being applied by condescending critics to the Bush II presidency. All those lowered expectations are turning out to be the trump card in George W. Bush's presidential hand. Just as they were for Ronald Reagan. Yes, there are stupid, loutish Republicans, but Ronald Reagan is not one; neither is George W. Bush.
It was no coincidence that February also saw the release of In His Own Hand -- a look at Reagan's notes and files over decades of speechifying. What these files reveal is a clear mind at work drawing "outside the box" on the issues of the day. Two decades before he came to the White House, Reagan was busy shaping the ideas that would form the core of his presidency.
There were no puppeteers or spin doctors at work as Reagan's thoughts took form. Through the decades, he made an honest journey across the ideological landscape, from president of the left-leaning Screen Actors Guild to conservative governor of California and president. This was not a role Ronald Reagan acted out; it was an intellectual process.
Reagan's journey to leadership epitomizes the truism that "trend isn't destiny." When Reagan came to the presidency in 1981, inflation was in double digits, Japan was widely viewed as overtaking this country as the world's economic leader, Americans were being held hostage in Iran. It was not a happy or easy time. And the future was anything but clear. Ronald Reagan made all the difference.
The best way to understand Reagan's impact in that time and place may be to consider what the world would have been like if he hadn't come along. Still locked in Cold War struggle with the Soviet empire? More than likely. Still searching for statist solutions to economic problems? Very likely, too.
How best to make the point? It's irresistible not to call on Hollywood.
Who does not remember the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future, produced by (delicious political irony here) Stephen Spielberg? Consider, if you will, Ronald Reagan as a real-life version of Marty McFly.
McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, was given the gift of time travel by his eccentric townsman, the mad scientist, played by Christopher Lloyd. He used it to maximum effect: Going back to the high school days of his parents to give his father the courage to confront the town bully and court his mother. For Marty this was of the utmost consequence: If his parents never meet and marry, he will not be born.
Marty McFly confronted the bully and changed his world for the better. When Marty returned from the 1950s to his contemporary, mid-80s neighborhood, he discovered that his earlier interventions had made all the difference for his family.
And so it was with Ronald Reagan. By standing up to the Soviet Union, and bringing down the global bully, Reagan created a new world for his countrymen. By standing up for the power of free markets, he helped to shape the world of entrepreneurial creativity with which we've been blessed.
The Great Communicator communicated a great and profound idea: America is about freedom. He taught us that trend isn't destiny. We're all the better for Ronald Reagan's leadership. God bless him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Langworthy, the Chronicle's Outlook editor, is a member of the Editorial Board. david.langworthy@chron.com
[This message has been edited by oracle (edited 03-11-2001).]
By DAVID LANGWORTHY
Houston Cronicle
Isn't it a pleasure to watch the fuss being made over Ronald Reagan lately? Last month we celebrated the great man's 90th birthday; last week an aircraft carrier was named for him. The Chronicle headline called it "Reagan Mania." And so it is.
The fawning over Reagan is well deserved, albeit bittersweet given his battle with Alzheimer's. Along with Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan clearly was the towering figure in the 20th century presidency.
What made February's birthday recognition of Reagan all the more enjoyable was the consternation it caused to many on the left. It's clear that this man's increasing stature as a leader for the ages still bothers the hell out of a lot of folks. They continue to prefer the comfortable fiction that the man was an "amiable dunce."
They need to get over it: Ronald Reagan is a giant. He changed this country's course dramatically and for the better. In areas from foreign policy to the entrepreneurial economy and limiting the role of government, we're still registering the impact of the Reagan Revolution. A "Reagan agenda" is front and center in Washington. We'll continue to see its benefits for generations to come.
There's a self-interested reason for Reagan denigrators to get over it, too. That conceit of the left about Reagan's lack of mental capacity is not just a matter for historians to argue. It is the same mind-set at the root of "lowered expectations" being applied by condescending critics to the Bush II presidency. All those lowered expectations are turning out to be the trump card in George W. Bush's presidential hand. Just as they were for Ronald Reagan. Yes, there are stupid, loutish Republicans, but Ronald Reagan is not one; neither is George W. Bush.
It was no coincidence that February also saw the release of In His Own Hand -- a look at Reagan's notes and files over decades of speechifying. What these files reveal is a clear mind at work drawing "outside the box" on the issues of the day. Two decades before he came to the White House, Reagan was busy shaping the ideas that would form the core of his presidency.
There were no puppeteers or spin doctors at work as Reagan's thoughts took form. Through the decades, he made an honest journey across the ideological landscape, from president of the left-leaning Screen Actors Guild to conservative governor of California and president. This was not a role Ronald Reagan acted out; it was an intellectual process.
Reagan's journey to leadership epitomizes the truism that "trend isn't destiny." When Reagan came to the presidency in 1981, inflation was in double digits, Japan was widely viewed as overtaking this country as the world's economic leader, Americans were being held hostage in Iran. It was not a happy or easy time. And the future was anything but clear. Ronald Reagan made all the difference.
The best way to understand Reagan's impact in that time and place may be to consider what the world would have been like if he hadn't come along. Still locked in Cold War struggle with the Soviet empire? More than likely. Still searching for statist solutions to economic problems? Very likely, too.
How best to make the point? It's irresistible not to call on Hollywood.
Who does not remember the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future, produced by (delicious political irony here) Stephen Spielberg? Consider, if you will, Ronald Reagan as a real-life version of Marty McFly.
McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, was given the gift of time travel by his eccentric townsman, the mad scientist, played by Christopher Lloyd. He used it to maximum effect: Going back to the high school days of his parents to give his father the courage to confront the town bully and court his mother. For Marty this was of the utmost consequence: If his parents never meet and marry, he will not be born.
Marty McFly confronted the bully and changed his world for the better. When Marty returned from the 1950s to his contemporary, mid-80s neighborhood, he discovered that his earlier interventions had made all the difference for his family.
And so it was with Ronald Reagan. By standing up to the Soviet Union, and bringing down the global bully, Reagan created a new world for his countrymen. By standing up for the power of free markets, he helped to shape the world of entrepreneurial creativity with which we've been blessed.
The Great Communicator communicated a great and profound idea: America is about freedom. He taught us that trend isn't destiny. We're all the better for Ronald Reagan's leadership. God bless him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Langworthy, the Chronicle's Outlook editor, is a member of the Editorial Board. david.langworthy@chron.com
[This message has been edited by oracle (edited 03-11-2001).]