Ronald Reagan called for an “informed patriotism” and called for a reinstitutionalized spirit in his Farewell address (bottom of page). He said the “new patriotism” and spirit needs to be grounded in “thoughtfulness and knowledge.” Informed patriots would remember and teach American democratic values about freedom. They would teach about why the pilgrims came here and about John Winthrop. They would know how special America is, and that freedom needs protection. Reagan said that we need to teach “very directly,” as he had been taught, “what it means to be an American.”
But this produces questions. If, for example, those over 35 like him had been taught “what it means to be an American,” why wasn’t Jimmy Carter like him? Did Jimmy Carter and others over 35 have a common understanding of “what it means to be an American”? Or did Carter and Reagan have competing visions of “what it means to be American”?
Why not call Jimmy Carter a “freedom man” or a “pilgrim”? He made human rights the center piece of his administration and consider his social justice work with Habitat for Humanity after he left office. And on the other hand, consider Ronald Reagan’s epitaph, “I know in my heart that man is good. . . .” That statement doesn’t sound like a pilgrim who would have known Psalm 14: 2-3:
The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
and Matthew 19:16-17:
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
and Romans 3:11-12:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
So what do you think? Who do you think was more informed about pilgrims? About freedom and justice in the world? About the problem of injustice and the innocent suffering at the hands of the wicked men and nations raised in Habakkuk?
Yeah, I wondered about those Scriptures when I read Reagan’s epitaph at the memorial site, too. I like the optimism of the quote, but it isn’t based in Truth, is it?
Maybe it’ll help to post a bit of context. But in the meantime, you sound like a vote for Carter as more like a pilgrim….
… and here is an example of a “Christian Constitutionalist” who denies that Reagan’s optimism is based on the Truth.
http://christianconstitutionalist.com/articles/09112004.htm
There is no doubt that the premise that “man is inherently good” is not in line with Scripture. However, it is difficult to see any political party starting off their platform with “Man is inherently evil…” and winning many votes in a nation that is so far from its Christian heritage. On the other hand, political parties are not churches, and in the context of Reagan’s optimism, I think what the Republicans were trying to say is that as a party they tended to trust people to do the right thing more often than not. Reagan thought that if people understood and knew our heritage, they would be more inclined to support the maintenance of that heritage and less self-indulgent. The Democrats, on the other hand, tend to see man as inherently incapable of doing good on his own, so the government needs to impose good by legislation. (How the government knows “good” when the people who are elected by definition also don’t do good is not clearly addressed by the Dems.) That approach leads to mandatory seat belt/helmet/child seat laws that force a “one size fits all” approach that ends up fitting no one well. It’s not that seat belts, helmets, child seats are bad, it’s that by mandating them the “nanny” government intrudes into our families, weakens the overall respect for the law in general and becomes more of an opponent than it should be. And those are just trivial examples. The most egregious is the NObama proposal to steal profits from the oil companies to give away. Basically, he wants to steal the profits from those who took a risk and invested in the oil companies and give it to those who did nothing to earn it. That’s the worst of communism and socialism. But because the average citizen is unaware of our heritage, they end up as self-indulgent, not self-sacrificing and it sounds good. If we had taught our heritage of rewarding those who take the risks to make it better for all of us, that proposal would have been dead-on-arrival.
For 2008, just say “NObama.”
I think the fact that Republicans seem to believe they have a monopoly on tending to trust man instead of government is typical of the problem we’ve faced the last eight years in trusting the wrong man (actually there’s enough blame in this administration to go around, so it’s more like men and women) to do the job. Just my two cents. And I voted for Reagan.
This reminds me of Reagan’s scariest words: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Pop, are leaders today unable to speak the truth or did Reagan use a poor choice of words to describe limited government?
Denis, are you saying “informed patriots” don’t trust government?
And if people aren’t good, does that mean that liberty is not good?
Unable to speak the truth? No, I think they are able. But the population doesn’t want to hear the truth because the truth is too painful to hear. They want their ears “tickled,” as Paul said. So politicians tell them what they want to hear.
Example: Nobody wants to deal with the Social Security issue. It will take a national will to deal with the coming problem of the Boomers taking more and more out of SS than they put in. To solve it you either have to promise less or tax more or start eliminating recipients. But when a politician touches this ‘third rail’ of politics, he/she gets immediately hammered from all sides. So politicians avoid any serious discussion of the solution.
As for Denis’ comment, Democrats historically have not “trusted man” to do the right thing. Roosevelt didn’t trust charities to take care of needy people, so he created the SS, supposedly as a “safety net” under those who couldn’t set any aside for retirement or who didn’t get support from charities. Over time the Dems morphed it into an “entitlement” for millions who now include it in their basic plan for retirement, not as a safety net. Even the GOP has fallen into the trap with the recent pharmacy additions. All of this “entitlement” is creating a whole generation or more of people who are now totally dependent on the government.
Other examples from the Dems: Dems can’t trust the common man to make a good decision about buying the best car for their needs and take into that consideration gas mileage, so we’ll legislate mileage demands that will force car makers to make small, unsafe cars that nobody wants just so they can claim the average mileage of their manufactured fleet matches the CAFE requirements. Dems can’t trust the common man to make a good decision about how best to educate his family, so we’ll create an entire bureaucracy of thousands of people just to waste billions of tax dollars on so-called schools and deny anyone the privilege of making their own decision (no vouchers, no choices).
Reagan had it right–smaller government intrusion into our life. Less regulation. Let capitalism work. Trust Americans to know the “right things to do,” but also be honest with the consequences if they don’t do those right things. Buy gas-guzzlers, pay more for gas as it gets in short supply. Pick the wrong school, your kids fail. Fail to plan for retirement, live in poverty. Simple to understand.
Yes, politicians are “able,” but not always willing. Jimmy Carter didn’t want to use the words “wicked” and “sin” in his inaugural because “those who did not share my beliefs might misunderstand.” (See Keeping Faith, 19.)
But his choice of Micah 6:8 and doing justice still raises some questions. The point we’ve come to is defining justice by majority will–so if the majority want a “windfall” profits tax on the the “big oil companies” and have a “tax refund” then that become justice and not theft. And trusting man to do the right thing may simply be a denial that someone else always knows better….