Posted on 04/10/2009 5:28:21 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
What would Reagan do?
Rick Reiss
Friday, April 10th, 2009
Last month, members of the Temecula community met at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park to celebrate “Can Do” Day.
The annual Can Do Day event recognizes the time when President Ronald Reagan commended the people of Temecula for their self-reliance and initiative in building the sports park that now bears his name.
On March 3, 1983, while addressing the US Olympic committee, President Reagan remarked, “The folks in a rather small town, Temecula…got together and built themselves a sports park, held fundraising barbecues and dinners. And those who didn’t have money volunteered the time and energy. And now the young people of that community have baseball diamonds for Little League and other sports events, just due to what’s traditional Americanism.”
This year’s Can Do Day featured student speakers reading essays of inspirational self-reliance as well as the captain of the USS Ronald Reagan speaking about President Reagan’s enduring legacy through the dedicated service of thousands of sailors onboard the aircraft carrier.
While listening to the speakers, it was tempting to imagine what Ronald Reagan would say and do to address the dire state of our union today.
Right now our current president and congressional leadership are throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at bailouts and “pork” larded stimulus bills.
Adding insult to injury, plans are in the works to n
ationalize large swaths of the private sector, including the financial and healthcare industries.
In light of the revelations that hundreds of millions of tax dollars are going to pay for the bonuses of AIG executives (thank you, Congress), does anybody really believe that the government has the competency and the integrity to manage the personal health and financial affairs for you and your family?
The current economic mess is easily laid at the feet of our federal government. The creation of leviathan bureaucracies like Housing and Urban Development, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, along with the Community Reinvestment Act warped the mortgage market.
Ironically, these same big government politicians now heap scorn and blame upon the mortgage industry for their reckless ways.
Yet when is the day of reckoning for those big government bureaucrats who instigated this mess?
Ronald Reagan was a keen observer of the destructive ways of big government. Undoubtedly, our 40th president would describe the current state of economics with this notable quotation:
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
Doesn’t this just sum up our current situation? The government has decimated the mortgage market and in turn, taken down a large chunk of our financial sector.
Now, the government is left subsidizing bankrupted lending institutions with trillion-dollar bailouts.
Americans at all levels are realizing that big government is the problem. They are overworked, overtaxed and tired of the government driving up the costs of business and products.
The Gipper said it best: “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”
Reagan’s wisdom was that he recognized and believed that people excel when they are left alone to solve the daily problems in their lives.
A quarter century ago, the people of Temecula did just that. There was no begging or lobbying for government “pork” dollars to build the sports park. The people just organized themselves and built it.
With more and more tax and spend and borrow schemes coming out of our political leadership in Sacramento and Washington, DC, perhaps it’s time to begin asking “What would Reagan do?”
Rick Reiss lives in Temecula and writes as a columnist. He can be contacted by e-mail at rickreiss6@aim.com.
My cousin used to play at that park when first open
One thing Ronaldus would do is: our commercial merchant marine ships free and all sailors, or your Somalia ambassador dead. In fact, all Somali ships will blown out of the water as soon as they leave port if this happens ever again. Just leave a destroyer permanently in that area and join with Bri,, Fr., other naval ships as a blockade of Somalia and keep sinking ships till they say uncle or Allah or whatever.
Reagan was a GREAT president — best in sixty years. But I hate the question — what would Reagan do? We cannot know that. He was from a different time, different era, different politics.
Better to ask the question in this way: what is the conservative strong defense approach?
Cheers!
...and Happy New Year!
A lot of people don’t realize that Reagan majored in economics.
Well most conservs would not fear the Somalis. They might dither sometimes, but we know that our enemies would die not go on retreats! IKE, even Nixon, Reagan, W, yes even W, would not wussy out as this coward in the WH. If another American ship or ships are seized, he ought to be impeached if he does nothing but ‘negotiate.’
You’re right. The longer we let the stand-off continue, the weaker we look.
Obama bowed to the Saudi leader, now he is bowing to the p-rats.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.