I believe Reagan was the first President I really believed in. He made me feel the patriotism that our Forefather's must have felt. He believed in America, and because he did, he made everyone else believe too. He showed his faith not only in America, but in God as well. I remember him reading the Bible at Christmas to a bunch of kindergarteners, that was the first time, I had heard a President read the Bible. Interestingly Jimmy Carter talked about being a Christian, but Reagan was the one who had the courage to simply read the Bible. He took so much flack for that little episode.

All I know is that as a young mother raising my child, president Reagan made me believe that there was good in the world. He made me believe that although the government had problems, there were solutions to be had. He made me believe that whatever, was bad in government that had been done before, could be undone. Oh, the hope that began to fade when he left office. It lingered through the elder Bush years, but George Bush Sr. was never able to embody leadership the the way that Reagan did.

When Bill Clinton took office, things began to slide, partially because of Clinton, but mostly because something happened to the American people in the years between Reagan, and G.W. Bush. Clinton was a symptom of a greater problem. The American people lost some essential goodness and morality in those years, that had existed previously. It was like the light of goodness just simply went out. As much goodness as Reagan seemed to inspire, Clinton seemed to inspire it's retreat. Before Bill Clinton I doubted the ability of any one man to destroy a nation, but he certainly made me see the possibility. It was almost as if his own personal immorality, was sprinkled upon the American people.

Reagan had embodied the opposite of that. I know that Reagan was not perfect, however, there was a joy, and a goodness, that he shared with all who watched him. He had a genuine likeability that he exuded into his Job, and sprinkled upon the American people. Clinton and Regan were two sides of a coin, one for good, the other for bad, one for tradition, the other for breaking tradition, one for faithfulness, the other for unfaithfulness.

I like George Bush. I think he wants the best for America. I think he is genuinely a good man. However, I wish he had that something that Reagan had that made the people that associated with him better men. I wish he could find that way of making America see the new day dawning ahead of them, in spite of the evil in the World. More importantly I wish America, was like the America in Reagan's day. I wish we had that soul for goodness that we seem to have lost. I Do not mourn Ronald Reagan for I believe that he is in a better place. However, I mourn the lost America, that loved Ronald Reagan. I mourn the loss of morality, and goodness that America has cast aside. I mourn the loss of two parent committed families. I mourn the loss of sexual purity. I mourn the loss of hopefulness. I mourn the day when America stood for something, not because a man said she did, but because she really did stand for something. I mourn an America, that still believed that freedom was something of value. The day Reagan left office was not the death of those things. Those things America left all by herself. Those things she continues to leave with the help of pseudo-communists, which pursue the same goals for America that Reagan hoped to rid the world of. Ronald Reagan was not vigilant enough for America, not because he didn't want to be, but because America MUST be vigilant for herself. No one man can be vigilant for an entire nation! The Nation must do it for herself! Oh America, when will you realize what you have lost and seek to regain it before it is too late? When will you turn, away from the cliff you are headed for? When will you become the America Ronald Reagan believed in, and the America I believed in as well? When will you cast aside your lust, and greed, and sin? Yes, I said SIN! For that is what is eating the life out of our nation! That is what is destroying children and families! That is what is leading us to tyranny faster than a greased canoe on a log run.

There is a contingent of greedy people currently trying to blame every problem of America on our current President. However, just as Ronald Reagan did not bring us here, or the presidency of Clinton did not bring us here, neither will the Presidency of George Bush or John Kerry EVER make America happy. We must seek the old paths.

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

And this is America's problem. We will not walk in the good way. We choose not to. George Bush does not choose America's path. We choose it. We CAN make it better, but we will not. For the same reason the Children of Israel did not, because our sin has coulded our minds and our judgement. We can no longer see beyond our own selfish wants and desires. We cannot even see our own children's needs, much less those of our fellow man. All over American's are pointing fingers from those who lost loved one's on 9-11, to those who blame corporations, to those who blame the insurance companies, and on and on and on... However, all those fingers should be pointed right back at ourselves, because we allowed things to get this way. We voted it, or we didn't vote ourselves here. We took no action when we should have or we took action in the wrong directions when we should have sat still.

Ronald Reagan was a great man. However, he was just a man. He was not omniscient. He was not Omnipresent. He was not the Creator of the Universe. He was simply a man following the best course he could find for both himself and this nation. However, there is a God who love America. There is a Savior who died for America. There is a Salvation for America. It is available, and is free but for the asking. God could give America the ability to straighten her paths once again. He could give America Joy, and prosperity once again. Children's faces in America could once again be littered with smiles, rather than drugs, abuse, and loss. Babies could once again be held in the arms of those who love them rather than the antiseptic hands of a doctor ending their life. Children could once again be raised by two parents who love them for their whole lives. Oh America, we have lost so much. However, we have ever so much more to gain! Oh America, look at your children, and ask yourselves if you want them to grow up in a time like this, or a time like 60 years ago, Not technologically, but emotionally, physically, religiously, and practically. Goodbye President Reagan, May America once again gain your kind of hope. May she gain hope in this life and in the life to come. May she once again gain her goodness, and her strendth from the source of all life. Rest well President Reagan, My President.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), June 07, 2004

Answers

President Reagan had three very important things going for him. First was the wisdom of his years, second was the skills of his acting career that made him able to communicate with most everyone and third, his love of the simple jelly bean was as sincere as his love for our nation or anything else he held dear and he spread that.

President Bush shares most all the same qualities, but speaks as a common man, not with the communicative skills of a man with a history of doing theatrical presentations.

Both men share a true concern or our nation. If President Reagan were in office today, I am sure that we would still be at war because that was the type of man he was. I am glad that today we have a man in office with as strong a conviction as President Reagan posessed.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), June 11, 2004.

I am also glad that we Have President Bush. I simply wish that he had just a little of President Reagan's ability to charm the snakes.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@bright.net), June 11, 2004.