Here’s some context for the previous quotation of Reagan at the opening of his library that “man is good.” From a transcript by Clay WalkerRonald Reagan said:
I remember a small woman with auburn hair and unquenchable optimism. Her name was Nelly Reagan and she believed with all her heart that there was no such thing as accidents in this life. Everything was part of God’s plan. If something went wrong you didn’t wring your hands, you rolled up your sleeves. . . .
Perhaps that was the root of my belief shared with Thomas Paine that we Americans of all people were uniquely equipped to begin the world over. . . .
I grew up in a town where everyone cared about one another because everyone knew one another, not as statistics in a government program but as neighbors in need. Is that nostalgic? I don’t think so. I think it is still what sets this nation apart from every other nation on the face of the earth.
Our neighbors were never ashamed to kneel in prayer to their makers nor were they ever embarrassed to feel a lump in their throat when old glory passed by. No one in Dixon, Illinois ever burned a flag and no one in Dixon would have tolerated it.
. . . [Nelly Reagan thought] that America itself is no accident of geography or political science but parts of God’s plan to preserve and extend the sacred fire of human liberty.
I too have been described as an undying optimist. . . . And that’s not just because I have been blessed with achieving so many of my dreams, my optimism comes not just from my strong faith in God, but from my strong and enduring faith in man.
. . . I’ve seen what men can do for each other and do to each other, I’ve seen war and peace, feast and famine, depression and prosperity, sickness and health. I’ve seen the depth of suffering and the peaks of triumph and I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life.
A dynamic people, by rolling their sleeves up and getting government off their backs, can achieve economic renewal. . . .
I remember a time when the growth of American government seemed inexorable and the encroachment of that government on the lives and liberties of our citizens seemed unstoppable. I also remember a time when America was advised to keep a low profile in the world as if by hunkering down and muzzling her deepest beliefs, she might avoid foreign criticism and placate her enemies. . . .
So, how do Carter and Reagan compare as Pilgrims?
