Posted on 06/07/2004 12:00:11 AM PDT by kattracks
June 7, 2004 -- "From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?" — Ronald Reagan, first inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981 FIFTEEN years after President Reagan left the Oval Office, and 12 hours after his death, The New York Times reminds us that the 40th president fostered "Cold-War might and curbs on government." Softer tributes to Reagan focus on his infectious optimism and his vision of an eternal morning in America.
What both pictures miss is that it was all forever, and necessarily, entwined. Ronald Reagan wasn't just optimistic about America; he was optimistic about Americans. And that optimism was intimately linked to his philosophy — America's original philosophy, espoused most often in Reagan's time by economist Milton Friedman: That government's purpose is to defend against external threats, and to uphold domestic laws to protect life and property. Government must perform those tasks so that the people can strive and thrive.
Reagan understood that those two tenets were the cornerstones of the American birthright to the pursuit of happiness. He was the last president who professed so unabashedly an implicit faith in the extraordinary intelligence of ordinary Americans.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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