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Amen...

This is exactly what I told my own sons last night.

I remember clearly, when I was a child, how my grandparents spoke glowingly about FDR. They told me: “He lifted the mood of the entire country, and made us believe again”. FDR came along in a time that was not just economic Depression... it was, collective social depression. In his fireside chats on the radio, his eternal optimism changed the attitude of the entire nation and set them on a path of recovery. At least, the people BELIEVED they were... My grandparents didn’t agree with much of what FDR did, but they loved him anyway.

Ronald Reagan was much the same. After the shame of watergate, we muddled through several years of care-taker Ford. Everyone knew the next election would go to the Democrats.. just as punishment for Nixon’s ‘crimes’. And so, we ended up with Jimmy Carter... even though, I think a majority already knew that Reagan would have been better.

Jimmuh had the mis-fortune of leading during a period of bad economic production, but his policies and inaction made things far worse than they had to be. Everyone saw his cluelessness in how to deal with the problems, and his obvious internal distress. Cue the Iranian Revolution... and, things just got worse. By the time the 1980 election came along, most in this country had given up any hope for the future of America. RR reminded us that, Hey! This is STILL the greatest country around.. and, with leadership backed by the power of the American people, CHANGES for THE GOOD can still happen.

No one.. certainly not me... ever thought Congress would index taxes to inflation to stop the “bracket creep” that relentlessly brought more money into Washington... but, they did! 25 years later, we all STILL get a ‘tax cut’ every year, as the Standard Deduction is adjusted.

No one thought we could get our hostages back from Iran.. we did. NO one thought there was any way to stop “stagflation”.. we did. The cures were painful, to be sure. I was personally unemployed twice during Reagan’s years... I nearly lost my home. But, I survived.. and, even prospered, eventually.

If you ever had ANY doubt that we don’t have a Reagan running this year.... just take a look at the answers to the FIRST question in last night’s debate: “Are we better off than we were 8 years ago”. EVERY CANDIDATE said, “NO”... Mitt, of course, answered obtusely, but... even his response equated to.. No.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? How hard is it to answer that question, EMPHATICALLY YES!!! Of course, some people may not be... but, as a country? Of course we are.

8 years ago, we were at the end of the dot-com bubble and the markets were about to take HUGE losses. We’ve survived that, taken a wicked terrorist hit, and won two wars since then.. and despite all that, we’ve created MILLIONS of new jobs, increased income, increased personal net worth, seen ALL KINDS of innovative new products, seen the dramatic increases in global trade, advances in health care, etc... I could on for days.

Yet, not one of the Republican candidates could think of anything to say except, “Well.... these are hard times”. BS! I’ve lived in hard times... THIS, AIN’T IT!. What we need, is a leader who will tell this country to stop whining, get to work, and enjoy the fruits of the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Whew.... I was just going to type, “Amen”.... guess, I got carried away.. :-)