Hope and Laughter
EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME
To me and to so many others, Ronald Reagan is like tonic.
Just seeing him in footage or in photos cheers people up. That’s why this billboard is so cool. Even Keith Olbermann enjoys Reagan films!
Spending a little time reading his words clears the fog away and leaves you feeling better and thinking sharper than when you began, the exact opposite of so many other politicians.
Yet he was no Pollyanna. In 1964, he said what we all feel today:
“Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.”
But he also had an unshakeable optimism about America. That tells me we need both his “eternal optimism” and eternal vigilance.
If you find yourself a little short on hope in these tough times, Ronnie will be happy to give you some of his:
1952: “I, in my own mind, have always thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land.”
1964: “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.”
1977: “Our task now is not to sell a philosophy, but to make the majority of Americans, who already share that philosophy, see that modern conservatism offers them a political home. We are not a cult, we are members of a majority. Let’s act and talk like it.”
1980: “[The Democrats] say that the United States has had its days in the sun, that our nation has passed its zenith.… My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view.”
1981: “The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization.”
1981: “I hope the people on Wall Street will pay attention to the people on Main Street. If they do, they will see there is a rising tide of confidence in the future of America.”
1982: “To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that’s a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again.”
1984: “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”
1984: “In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America’s is.”
1986: “The American people brought us back — with quiet courage and common sense; with undying faith that in this nation under God the future will be ours, for the future belongs to the free.”
1994: “In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”
And since we need a laugh, too, our old friend Scrappleface:
Genocide Declaration Spurs UN to Send Troops to 1915
Another bill they haven’t read. heh. I feel better already.
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