A Tribute to Ronald Reagan

- by Bob and Rose Weiner

The Forerunner - Jan/Feb 1989

Copy Right @ 2008 Rose Weiner

All rights reserved

Thou, too sail on, O ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

We know what Master laid thy keel,

What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!

Fear not each sudden sound and shock,

'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!

In spite of rock and tempest's roar,

In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are still with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, - are all with thee!

"The Building of the Ship"

Henry W. Longfellow

What exactly has happened in the United States over the past
eight years since the Reagan presidency began? What was this
thing that has been called by some the "Reagan Revolution?"
Have things really changed that much? Did the presidency of
Ronald Reagan really make a difference?

Some of his critics propose that Ronald Reagan just "made

everyone feel good." It is true that he was not able to accomplish
all that he had hoped for, yet in some respects he accomplished
more than he ever dreamed was possible.

Mr. Reagan has remarked that after he referred to the Soviet

Union as an "evil empire," he never dreamed he would one day
stand on the steps of Moscow State University, in front of the
mural of the Bolshevik Revolution, and talk to Russian university
students about what it means to be a free nation. It was then, he
said, that he sensed on the horizon a great possibility that the
nations would indeed one day live together in peace without the
threat of war.

Perhaps he was thinking of the age old prophecies from the book
of Isaiah: "They will hammer their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword
against nation and never again will they learn war" (Isaiah 2:4). If
this was his thinking, his thoughts were flowing along the same
stream as our founding fathers. Perhaps nowhere is the idea of
world peace expressed so well as in one of early America's best
loved carols, "It Came upon a Midnight Clear," written by Isaac
Watts:

And lo, the days are hastening on,

By prophets, bards, foretold.
When through the ever encircling years
Comes round the age of gold.
When peace shall over all the earth,
It's ancient splendor fling,
And the whole world give back the song,
Which now the angels sing.

It was the widespread belief of early Americans that their new

experiment in free government would replace the old order of
tyranny and bring the world into a new order of things - which
would ultimately bring the nations of the world into universal
freedom, peace, prosperity, and brotherhood. President Reagan
showed his agreement with the intentions of the founding father
generation in his last State of the Union message. He observed:
"We've seen such changes in the world in seven years: as
totalitarianism struggles to avoid being overwhelmed by the
forces of economic advance and the aspiration for human
freedom, it is the free nations that are resilient and resurgent. As
the global democratic revolution has put totalitarianism on the
defensive, we have left behind the days of retreat - America is
again a vigorous leader of the free world, a nation that acts
decisively and firmly in the furtherance of her principles and vital
interests."

That belief was expressed by Isaac Watts in another Christmas

carol, "Joy to the World":

No more let sin or sorrow grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground.
He's come to make His blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found!

The Beginning of a New World

Concerning the early settlers of this land, historian Samuel

Morrison wrote, "doubting nothing and fearing no man, they
undertook to set all crooked ways straight and create a new
heaven and new earth. If they were not permitted to do that in
England, they would find some other place to establish their city
of God." America was that place.1

Jonathan Edwards, early America's greatest theologian, wrote

concerning this belief that God was instituting a new order of
things here in America. He believed that this nation was destined
to usher in a new era for the human race. Speaking of the First
Great Awakening, he wrote,

"It is not unlikely that this work of God's Spirit, so extraordinary

and wonderful, is the dawning, or, at least, a prelude of the
glorious work of God, so often foretold in Scripture which ... shall
renew the world of mankind. God has made two worlds here
below, two great habitable continents, far separated one from the
other ...This new world is probably now discovered too, that the
new and most glorious state of God's Church on earth might
commence there; that God might in it begin a new world in a
spiritual respect, when He creates the new heavens and new
earth.

"The other continent hath slain Christ, and has from age to age
shed the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus and has often
been deluged with the Church's blood. God has probably reserved
the honor of building the glorious temple to the daughter that has
not shed so much blood, when those times of the peace,
prosperity, and glory of the Church, typified by the reign of
Solomon, shall commence.

"And it is worthy to be noted, that America was discovered about

the time of the reformation or but little before: which reformation
was the first thing that God did towards the glorious renovation of
the world, after it had sunk into the depths of darkness and ruin,
under the great anti-Christian apostasy.

"It seems to me ... that the light will rise in the west, till it shines
through the world like the sun in its meridian brightness. The
same seems also to be represented by the course of the waters
of the sanctuary in Ezekiel 47 which was from west to east; which
water undoubtedly represented the Holy Spirit in the progress of
His saving influences, in the latter ages of the world ... And, if
these things be so, it gives us more abundant reason to hope that
what is now seen in America ... may prove the dawn of that
glorious day ... that God intends it as the beginning or forerunner
of something vastly great ..."2

Those were heady days in colonial America. It was this divine

sense of destiny that enabled the founding fathers to carve out a
nation that became the forerunner of a new order of things in the
history of the world.

Referring to his practice of drawing on the doctrines and

principles of the founding fathers, Reagan commented in his
Farewell Address, "I won the nickname of 'The Great
Communicator.' But it wasn't so much the style, it was the
content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated
great things. But they didn't spring full bloom from my brow. They
came from the heart of a great nation, from our experience, from
our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us
for two centuries. They called it the 'Reagan Revolution.' Well I'll
accept that, but for me it seemed more like 'The Great
Rediscovery,' a rediscovery of our values and our common
sense."

Peace Through Strength

The doctrine of peace through strength is another one of those

values which Reagan helped America rediscover, and he made it
a principle cornerstone of his presidency. Just how President
Reagan applied this "Peace through Strength" doctrine can be
readily seen in his own summary of the state of our national
defense and the changes he made when he took office:

"Our national defense was so weakened that the Soviet Union

had begun to engage in wreckless aggression, including the
occupation of Afghanistan ... We had military aircraft that couldn't
fly for lack of spare parts and ships that couldn't leave port for
the same reason or for lack of crew. Our embassy in Pakistan was
burned to the ground and one in Iran was stormed with all
Americans held as hostages. The world began to question the
constancy of the U. S.; President Carter said our people were at
fault, they had lost their confidence, a malaise had set in...

"But in January of 1981 we focused on hope, not despair ...

Together we pulled out of a tail spin ... We rebuilt our armed
forces. We liberated Grenada from the Communists and helped to
turn that island to democracy. We struck a firm blow against
Libyan terrorism. We've seen the growth of democracy in 90
percent of Latin America. The Soviets have begun to pull out of
Afghanistan. The bloody Iran/Iraq War is coming to an end and for
the first time we have the prospects of peace in Southwest Africa.
And in the 2765 days of our administration not one inch of ground
has fallen to the Communists. Today we have the first treaty in
world history to eliminate an entire class of U.S./Soviet nuclear
missiles, we are working on SDI to defend ourselves against
nuclear terror, and American and Soviet relations are the best
they've been since World War II."4

To see that Reagan's strengthening of our defenses was a

bedrock principle of the founding fathers, one has to look no
further than the Preamble to the Constitution, a small paragraph
of introduction which was at one time memorized by every
American schoolchild. It states:

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more

perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America."

Allocating money to provide for the common defense to make

sure that our military is strong and properly maintained is
fundamental to the Constitution and one of the few purposes for
which our government was founded.

In his Farewell Address, Reagan said, "I have been reflecting on

what the past eight years have meant and mean - and the image
that comes like a refrain is a nautical one - a small story about a
big ship and a refugee and a sailor. It was back in the early '80s
... A sailor was hard at work on the carrier Midway which was
patrolling the South China Sea. The crew spied on the horizon a
leaky little boat and crammed inside were refugees hoping to get
to America.

"The Midway sent a small launch to bring them to the ship and
safety. As the refugees made their way through the chopping
seas, one refugee saw the sailor standing on deck and called out
to him, 'Hello, American sailor! Hello, Freedom Man!' A small
moment, but a big meeting ... When I heard the story I couldn't
get it out of my mind, for that was what it was to be an American
in the 1980s. We stood again for freedom!

"I know we always have, but in the past few years the world
again and, in a way, we ourselves 'rediscovered' it ... The fact is
from Grenada to the Washington and Moscow summits, from the
recession of '81 and '82 to the expansion that began in late '82
and continues to this day, we've made a difference."

Economic Recovery

Reagan stated that the two greatest triumphs for which he was
the proudest was the economic recovery in which Americans
created and filled 19 million new jobs, and the recovery of our
morale. "America is respected again in the world and looked to
for leadership," President Reagan noted.

Referring to the economic recovery and what it meant to the

world, Reagan related the following account: "In 1981 I was
attending my first big economic summit held that year in Canada.
The opening meeting was for the heads of government for the
seven industrialized nations. Well, I sat like a new kid in school
and listened. They dropped titles and spoke to one another on a
first name basis. I sort of leaned in and said, 'My name is Ron.'

"That same year we began the actions that we felt would ignite
an economic comeback, cut taxes and regulations, started to cut
spending, and soon the recovery began. Two years later there
was another economic summit. At the opening meeting we all got
together. All of a sudden, just for a moment, I saw everyone was
looking at me. Then one of them broke the silence and said, "Tell
us about the American miracle."

To understand why the leaders of the free world called America's

economic recovery a miracle we only need to do a little
remembering - and look at how bad things use to be. Summing
that up in New Orleans this August, Reagan explained:

"Eight years ago America was in economic chaos ... I took office
after the two worst back to back years of inflation America had
suffered in sixty years. ... Interest rates had jumped to over 21
percent, the highest they had been in 120 years. ...The average
weekly wage plunged 9 percent. The median family income fell 5-
1/2 percent. Congress had passed the single highest tax bill in
our 200 year history. Auto loans went up to 17 percent. Factories
shut down. Fuel costs had doubled. People waited in gas and
unemployment lines. The misery index, a combination of
unemployment and inflation rates, had risen to 21 percent.
Inflation was 19 percent in 1980. It has been reduced to 3-1/2 to
4 percent. Interest rates are less than half of what they were ..."5

In a tribute to Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret

Thatcher said, "Mr. President, the free world thanks you!"
Following Reagan's lead, Mrs. Thatcher has led England in
deregulation and privatization of many of England's nationally
owned enterprises. This alone has transformed England from a
failing socialist economy to a nation that is thriving on free
enterprise.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Prime Minister of Japan, remarked, "I

once called him the 'Great Architect.' He put the tumble-down
house called the Free World back in shape again, shoring up the
pillars and tightening the loose bolts. Finally he managed to
persuade the Soviet Union to come out with a new harmonious
foreign policy.

"When people asked me why I liked him, I said, 'Because I'm a fan
of John Wayne.' Mr. Reagan projects the image of a brave man
with great compassion. I also said, 'He is a gentleman who
displays all the American virtues and remarkably few of what we
might see as negative American traits. I often said to Mr. Reagan,
'You are the pitcher and I am the catcher. Throw me a good pitch
... If the Reagan legacy continues, the pitcher-catcher relationship
between the United States and Japan will last, with mutual trust
and cooperation for the foreseeable future."6

Addressing the Republicans this August, Reagan explained, "In

1902 Teddy Roosevelt told Americans not to hold back from
dangers ahead but to rejoice with our hearts lifted, with the faith
that unto us and to our children it shall be given to make this
republic the mightiest among the peoples of mankind.

"In 1980 we needed every bit of that kind of faith. That year it
was our dream that we could rescue America and make a new
beginning, to create anew that 'shining city on the hill.' The
dream we shared was to reclaim our government, to transform it
from one which was consuming our prosperity ... A dream of
making our nation strong enough to preserve world freedom and
to recapture our national destiny.

"We made a determination that our dream would not be built on a

foundation of sand, something called 'trust me' government, but
we would trust instead the American spirit. And, yes, we were
unashamed to believe that this dream was driven by a
community of shared values, family work, neighborhood, peace,
and freedom. On July 17, 1980, we left with a mutual pledge to
conduct a national crusade to make America great again. We had
faith because the heroes in our midst had never failed us
before..."

Change in Soviet Policy

Perhaps the most far reaching effects of the Reagan Revolution

and the rebirth of America was the response of the Soviet Union.
Reporting on Gorbachev's latest visit to the U. S., U.S. News and
World Report correspondent Roger Rosenblatt observed, "Among
several stunning propositions in Mikhail Gorbachev's speech to
the U.N. last week, the most dizzying was that his country could
no longer live a lie. We (the United States) may be stumbling
about a bit, having learned that the Soviet Union appears to wish
to remove itself from the top of our Enemies List ... but one ought
not lose sight of the fact that, if last week represented a brief
moment of American confusion, it was also a moment of
American triumph. Gorbachev has in effect said to his astonished
people: 'Sorry. It's all been a terrible mistake. On to new times
and new ideas!'"7

Another reporter commented, "At first, the headlines obscured

Gorbachev's deeper message ... But it was his less direct
message, emerging between the lines, that was truly
breathtaking. Though couched in idealistic, one-world terms, it
was directed at the democratic capitalist West: Our system has
failed; yours has won. We are reforming. Accept us as a respected
partner. Without quite saying so, Gorbachev junked 70 years of
'scientific' Soviet dogma. There was an air of desperation, politely
overlooked by official listeners, in the words. But it was a
masterful performance, setting the democracies groping for a
response that would both test Gorbachev and calm enraptured
publics who did not hear the desperation that could foretell his
doom.

"Nikita Khrushchev was the last Soviet leader to address the

United Nations, 28 years ago, in September of 1960. Khrushchev
took off his shoe and beat it on the desk and said to the United
States, 'We will bury you!' A comparison of his speech with the
one delivered last week by Mikhail Gorbachev demonstrates how
unreservedly the Soviet Union's current head of state has buried
the 'we will bury you' mentality that dominated the Khrushchev
era.
"The drastic change in ideology is apparent. Khrushchev once
stated in regards to communism, 'No force in the world can stop
this mighty movement ... The socialist system is replacing
capitalism.' Gorbachev reflects: 'Today, further world progress is
only possible through a search for universal human consensus.
Efforts to solve global problems require a new quality of
interaction regardless of ideological or other differences.

"On violent revolution Khrushchev stated, 'Ours is the age of the

struggle for freedom, when the peoples are shaking the foreign
yoke off their shoulders. The peoples want a worthy life and are
fighting for it.' Today Gorbachev reflects, 'The understanding of
the need for a period of peace is gaining ground and beginning to
prevail."8

Reflecting perhaps on all these developments, President Reagan

commented in his Farewell Address, "Once you begin a great
movement there is no telling where it will lead - we meant to
change a nation and instead we changed a world. Countries
across the globe are turning to free markets and free speech and
turning away from the ideologies of the past. For them "The Great
Rediscovery" of the 1980s is that, lo and behold, the moral way of
government is also the practical way of government. That
democracy, the profoundly good, is also the profoundly
productive."

Speaking of the new developments with the Soviets, Reagan

advised, "We must trust, but verify; play, but cut the cards; watch
closely, but don't be afraid to say what you see."

Reporting on President Reagan's visit to the Soviet Union last

spring, and his address at Moscow State University, one
correspondent remarked that Reagan appeared to be less a
President and more of a preacher, a role the reporter noted that
Reagan seems to like the best. In perhaps the greatest speech
President Reagan ever made, he explained to the future leaders
of the Soviet Union just what freedom means. (An edited text of
this speech appears on page 13.)

Reagan remarked that one of the most eloquent contemporary

passages on human freedom came from Russian writer Boris
Pasternak in the novel Dr. Zhivago: "He writes, 'I think that if the
beast who sleeps in man could be held down by threats - any kind
of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after death - then the
highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in the circus
with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. But this is
just the point - what has for centuries raised man above the beast
is not the cudgel, but an inward music - the power of unarmed
truth."

Concluding that speech, Reagan said, "Your generation is living in

one of the most exciting hopeful times in Soviet history. It is a
time when the first breath of freedom stirs the air and the heart
beats to the accelerated rhythm of hope, when the accumulated
spiritual energies of a long silence yearn to break free. I am
reminded of the famous passage near the end of Gogol's Dead
Souls. Comparing his nation to a speeding troika, Gogol asks what
will be its destination. But he writes, 'there was no answer save
the bell pouring forth marvelous sound.'

"We do not know what the conclusion will be of this journey, but
we're hopeful that the promise of reform will be fulfilled. In this
Moscow spring, this May 1988, we may be allowed that hope -
that freedom, like the fresh green sapling planted over Tolstoi's
grave, will blossom forth at last in the rich fertile soil of your
people and culture. We may be allowed to hope that the
marvelous sound of a new openness will keep rising through,
ringing through, leading to a new world of reconciliation,
friendship and peace."

A Christian View of the Future

Those who think that this optimism is unfounded need only read
the prophet Isaiah, through whom the Lord assures us, "The time
is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come
and see My glory. And I will set a sign among them and will send
survivors from them to the nations; Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech,
Rosh and Tubal and Javan (Meshech, Rosh and Tubal are now the
Soviet Union), to the distant coastlands that have neither heard
My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among
the nations ... And it shall be ... that all mankind will come to bow
down before Me,' says the Lord."

Columnist George Will recently observed, "Rhetoric has been

central to Reagan's presidency because Reagan has intended his
stagecraft to be soulcraft. His aim has been to restore the plain
language of right and wrong, good and evil, for the purpose of
enabling people to make the most of freedom. In his long career
of crisscrossing the country, practicing the exacting ethic of
democratic persuasion, he has resembled a political John Wesley.
Here then is the crowning paradox of Reagan's career. For all his
disparagement of government, he has given it the highest
possible purpose, the improvement of the soul of the nation.

"Reagan believes the American people are 'lumpy with unrealized

potentialities.' The fruits of American talents will be bountiful
when Americans are optimistic. When they are optimistic they
make the most of freedom ... It is no accident that Reagan rose to
the pinnacle of power at a moment when there was a rising wave
of intellectual pessimism. Numerous theories were being offered
as to why the American experiment has passed its apogee.
Reagan's greatest gift to his country has been his soaring sense
of possibilities."9

Mr. Reagan once said that the reason he entered politics was not
because he wanted to make politics a career but because he
wanted to protect something precious. "I went into politics to put
up my hand and say stop. I was a citizen politician and it seemed
the right thing for a citizen to do. Man is not free unless
government is limited."10

On many occasions, Reagan said that it was his dream to see

America recapture her destiny. Explaining that destiny, he said, "I
believe that God put this land between two great oceans to be
found by a special people from every corner of the world who had
that extra love of freedom that prompted them to leave their
homeland and come to this land to make it a brilliant light beam
of freedom to the world.

"Freedom of association, freedom of worship, freedom of the

pursuit of happiness ... that's America. That's why we are a
magnet for the world - for those who dodged bullets and gave
their lives to come over the Berlin Wall and for others, only a few
of whom avoided death coming on tiny boats on turbulent
oceans. This land, its people, the dream that unfolds here and the
freedom to bring it all together, well those are what make
America soar up where you can see hope billowing in those
freedom winds."

Concluding his Farewell Address, Reagan eloquently summed up

his vision for America: "The past few days I've thought a lot about
the shining city set upon a hill. The phrase came from John
Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined.
What he imagined was important because he was an early
Pilgrim, an early 'freedom man.' He journeyed here on what we
would call a little wooden boat and like the other pilgrims he was
looking for a home that would be free.

"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life. What I

imagined was a tall proud city built on the rocks, stronger than
oceans, windswept, God-blessed, teeming with people of all kinds
living in harmony and peace. A city with free ports that hummed
with commerce and activity. And if there had to be city walls, the
walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will
and the heart to get here - that's how I saw it and see it still...

"And how stands the city on this winter night? - more happy,
more secure, more prosperous than it was eight years ago. But,
after two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite
ridge and her glow is held steady no matter what storm. And
she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom,
- for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling
through the darkness toward home."

Meditating on this analogy, one familiar with the Bible cannot

avoid the distinct resemblance this city has to the city John saw
coming down from heaven in the book of Revelation. In John's
vision, he was carried away to a great and high mountain, and
shown a city having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a
very costly stone. The foundation stones of the city wall were
adorned with every kind of jewel. The twelve gates were twelve
pearls. And the city was illumined by the glory of God and its
lamp was the Lamb. John wrote that the nations of the world were
destined to walk by its light, and that the kings of the earth would
bring their glory into it.

It was this city that Massachusetts governor John Winthrop had in

mind when he and a band of 50 pilgrims knelt at Plymouth Rock
and dedicated this nation and those who would inhabit it to God
for the furtherance of His kingdom. The vision for this city also
fueled Ronald Reagan's hope and optimism in regards to the
future. It was for the establishing of this city that Jesus Christ
taught his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven." Our founders believed that the old
world and its form and manner of tyranny would be vanquished,
and here in this new world God would create a new heaven and a
new earth where righteousness would dwell.

We see the light of that city beginning to shine. But before

America can realize her God-given calling, we must have a
spiritual awakening and repent from our immoral way of life.
While President Reagan did much to restore some of our basic
foundations, let us continue to work to see Christian morality and
truth become our strongest cornerstones for the future. Ronald
Reagan admonished, "We lit a prairie fire a few years back. Those
flames were fed by passionate ideas and convictions. And we
were determined to make them burn all across America. But we
can never let the fire go out or quit the fight, because the battle
is never over. H. G. Wells wrote, 'the past is but the beginning of a
beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the
dawn.'

"That's a new day - our sunlit new day - to keep alive the fires so
that when we look back at the time of choosing we can say that
we did all that could be done, never less."

1 David R. Shepherd, Ronald Reagan, In God I Trust (Wheaton,

Illinois: Tyndale House, 1984), p.47.
2 The Works of Jonathan Edwards,Vol. I (The Banner of Truth
Trust), pp. 381-383.
3 Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory
(Revell Co., 1977), p. 291.
4 Ronald Reagan, address before the Republican Convention,
August 1988.
5 Ibid.
6 Yasuhiro Nakasone, "The Pitcher and the Catcher," Newsweek,
Jan. 9, l989, p.20.
7 Roger Rosenblatt, "He Saw the Past and It Did Not Work," U. S.
News and World Report, Dec. 19, 1988, p. 9.
8 "Responding to Gorbachev," and "We Won't Bury You After All,"
U.S. News and World Report, Dec. 19, 1988, p. 17, 20.
9 George Will, "How Reagan Changed America," Newsweek,
January 9, 1989, p. 17, 15.
10 from President Ronald Regan's Farewell Address, January 11,
1989.