Posted on 6/7/2004, 11:17:45 PM by carlo3b
The Last Great DemocratI remember thinking that perhaps I was a turncoat for abandoning the ship when I considered voting for Ronald Reagan in 1980. Like my parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents, I was a Democrat to the core. President Jimmy Carter was a fine but weak man, a man with whom I had an emotional attachment. Ronald Reagan was a Democrat as well, albeit former. He had made the change with a profound epiphany, he said something that haunted me.. Ronald Reagan said, he "..hadn't left the Democrat party", he declared that "the Democratic Party had left him" and I was getting that same message, only I couldn't or wouldn't let myself face that fact..
I grew up in Chicago, I was a lifelong Democrat and knew and worked in the campaign office of Richard J. Daley when his family were still children, and before he became City Clerk, later as Mayor, and finally as king maker. I don't remember ever even knowing a Republican..
It wasn't until Ronald Reagan made me ask if I should believe my lying eyes, or what the media, my friends, and and loving family was telling me? Perhaps I was naive, but why were the things that Reagan was saying almost exactly what I believed deep down in the pit of my stomach.. American was better than everything I was being told, "America was in decline", "our best days were behind us", and "we must lower the bar and accept the inevitable, that the Soviets were going to best us if we didn't capitulate!" "Give up the dream, or be defeated from within"!
Unfortunately, it appeared our leaders had already given up. We had shamefully lost a war. America had been beaten in the race for missile technology, and our economy and emotional stability was in a total shambles. Tinhorn dictators were laughing at us. Blindfolded Americans were being paraded and spat upon in the streets of a stone-aged, 3rd world country, and even President Carter, from behind the bushes of the Rose Garden, declared that a state of malaise had overwhelmed the nation. The thought that total defeat was lurking right around the corner. .
Ronald Reagan didn't believe any of it, and neither did I..
As a child, I firmly believed in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and had my doubts about Harry Truman, but thought he was a victim of his times. I really liked Ike, but only because he was our W.W.II hero, and believed he was what we needed at that time and place. Had I been old enough, Kennedy would have been my first vote, but he had lost my respect before he left us. As a member of Operation Zapata, I had firsthand knowledge of the disgrace of the Bay Of Pigs. However, my heart was heavy when he was killed and I mourned his death, as an American.. I voted for Johnson to hold the nation steady in very turbulent times, and I bought the propaganda that Goldwater may be a risky gamble. For me, early on, Johnson and his treacherous band of thieves, became the first fisher in the Democrat armor.
Nixon, never lit my fire, but Hubert Humphrey was just too much a wuss, and he and the screeching, drug-infested, anti-war radicals were not going to be the solution to anything that was good for our nation. I never really bought the VietNam debacle, but I knew the Kennedy-Johnson administration was capable of atrocities. There was one thing that I knew for sure, that those shrill, hippy maggots didn't reflect anything I believed or envisioned as representatives of my great country. I had gone to war to protect my neighbors right to decent, but I drew a line at spitting in the faces of wounded American servicemen and women, or coddling a vicious enemy... OR SURRENDERING WITHOUT A FIGHT!
In the face of all of that, I cast my fist vote for a Republican. I was appalled with the Watergate scandal, because I didn't have time, FreeRepublic, Drudge, or Rush to give a balance to the reporting, and in my own personal sense of integrity. I never thought the crimes were as bad as the cover-up I thought Nixon was wrong in what he did do. I still believe that today. When Ford, another milquetoast candidate, pardoned Nixon, he and the Republican party, lost my respect, confidence, and my vote.
By then I had moved to Texas and among other things, had experience as a member of a Democrat Governor, Dolph Briscoe's administration and got another first hand knowledge of the shenanigans of the inner workings of the Democrat party, and like Chicago, of the heavy handed political apparatus. There were no Republicans holding Texas state office except Senator John Tower, and I had seen him compromised on more than one occasion in my own clubs and restaurants. If I could have withdrawn from reality of the sorry state of our government I believe I would have.
Hour long lines of cars stood outside the gas stations across the country, and price controls and rationing was being whispered in the halls of a Democrat controlled congress and White House. We had double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, and 20% + interest rates. By all accounts things weren't going well at all as we experienced a skyrocketing triple digit misery index.. Night was falling on our future and the sitting President and a overwhelming liberal media told us it was all of our fault... a dour Carter wrung his hands
Everyone was down except Ronald Reagan, he smiled reassurance, and talked about Morning in America.. There was a strong confidence in his voice and a powerful love of America and Americans was in his eyes and heart. To me and millions of other Democrats there was no choice.. and thank God we gave him not only our vote, but our hearts.. He never let us down.. He never promised what he didn't deliver, and if he fell short he left the scars of battle on the opponent. Ronald Reagan seldom had a favorable press or was far from a seething media.. but he always had a smile.
To our eternal optimist, from his most devoted fans, we love you Ronald Reagan then and we love you now. You are my hero.. You may have left us long ago, but in spirit, in my heart and in my soul, I have never felt closer to you Mr President then as I do right now..
God Bless his family, God Bless President Reagan and GOD BLESS AMERICA
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, MY HERO
Hey Carlo.
Glad to see you return.
I understand what you're talking about.
Do you have a TV show?
I could swear i saw "Cooking With Carlo " on the Food Channel....
Couldn't tell from your website if that was you....
Good piece.
My hero as well. Very nicely done Carlos.
Gipper bump!
Thanks Carlo.
Me too Carlo... My parents and grandparents were strong democrats. I literally ran to the polls that day just barely of age to vote for the most wonderful and refreshing contender for president I had ever seen, Ronald Reagan. His strength of character stood far above the rest. He will never be forgotten.
.. yep.. and some of my old shows pop up now and then..I do have a new show. I am on in a limited area, this new show being shot in Austin and is not a national cooking show, it is a dating game.. :)
Good to see you back and your sentiments are those of all of us here! I was a Ronald Reagan fan way back when he was a Hollywood heart throb, so when he got into politics, those of California and subsequently the U.S., I was sure I was the biggest Reagan conservative of them all! How wrong I was! The cable networks have been kind to him, and are finally telling America what the world already knew...once in a century, a special individual comes along that changes things for the better. We shall miss him.
Oh cool!
i feel special!
I "know" a celebrity!
LOL!
( No, I don't get out much! )
;-)
.. ((((HUGGG))))). . :)
thanks!
(((((HUGS RIGHT BACK!))))))
BRAVO Carlo...
President Reagan was a rare and special person. History will record the two turning points of the 20th Century as D-Day and the election of Ronald Reagan. In the 21st Century, I hope that 9-11 and President Bush's response is remembered as such a pivot...
God bless, carlo. President Reagan was such a special gift to this naiton.
Lovely tribute to a might and gallant man.
Lovely tribute to a mighty and gallant man.
Everyone was down except Ronald Reagan, he smiled reassurance, and talked about Morning in America.. There was a strong confidence in his voice and a powerful love of America and Americans was in his eyes and heart. To me and millions of other Democrats there was no choice.. and thank God we gave him not only our vote, but our hearts.. He never let us down.. He never promised what he didn't deliver, and if he fell short he left the scars of battle on the opponent. Ronald Reagan seldom had a favorable press or was far from a seething media.. but he always had a smile.
To our eternal optimist, from his most devoted fans, we love you Ronald Reagan then and we love you now. You are my hero.. You may have left us long ago, but in spirit, in my heart and in my soul, I have never felt closer to you Mr President then as I do right now..
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