I Miss President Reagan So Much...

Men don't cry...

Bull.

I cry. In fact, I'm a big softy. I actually get choked up quite easily!

Earlier this morning my friend and mentor John Hicks, who is presently managing the political campaign of "Nan Hayworth for Congress," called me up to ask if I would do him a favor and research and pass on to him some Reagan quotes suitable for the candidate - who like John and I is a huge Reagan fan - to refer to on the campaign trail.

"No problem," I told John; consider it done!

Well, I've since emailed him a selection of Reagan homilies. Mission accomplished!

No... not quite.

You guys know me; I'm not the "bare minimum effort" type. In for a penny, in for a pound - that's my motto! If you're gonna do something... do it right.

Well, I've been browsing various Reagan source material for the past hour or so and while perusing the archives of The Public Papers of President Ronald W. Reagan I found myself sobbing while reading President Reagan's Farewell Address to the Nation, delivered from the Oval Office commencing at 9:02 p.m. eastern standard time, the night of Wednesday, January 11, 1989.

Allow me to highlight the excerpt which "got to me."

Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past eight years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.

But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.

So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important - why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, ``We will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.'' Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.

And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

My God... the Wisdom... the Insight... the Idealism.

What President Reagan saw as a threat in 1989 we know as the reality of 2009.

We reside in The Age of Obama... American Exceptionalism is an ideal scorned by the Left and publicly rejected by the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Can America ever return to The Age of Reagan? I don't know. Honestly... I'm extremely pessimistic.

Almost 21 years ago Ronald Reagan was correctly pointing out that those who at the time were in their childhood years, their teens, their 20's, their early 30's were being raised in a "different America" than the one of earlier generations.

Now... almost 21 years later... those of us who came of age during The Age of Reagan can hardly recognize the present reality and as for our children...

(*SIGH*)

Whether you call it socialism... paternalism... even a "softer, gentler," more benevolent" brand of fascism... the reality is that this nation is turning away from our roots and ideals and the shift is being purposefully driven by those in control of the Democratic Party, of academia, and of course their message is carried and advanced by much of the press and entertainment industry.

Some of you reading this have children, others of you "only" have nieces... nephews... the children of close friends. To those of you who agree with me and share my values... heed the words of President Reagan. Do not be afraid to fulfill your duty as an adult to pass on your knowledge, wisdom, and values to our nation's youth.

I see the Legacy of our Founders slipping away from us. Perhaps we can reverse the tide; perhaps not.

Remember the words of Ronald Reagan when you sit down to dinner tonight.

Live the words of Ronald Reagan wherever and however you can.