Lessons Reagan Taught

What would Ronald Reagan make of the mess we are in? He would not be happy with us, with our leaders, how we spent our grandkids’ money, indifference to evil. If he – or any real leader from our past – were again alive, they would marvel at how soon we forget, tell us “be brave.”

What have we forgotten? A lot. We have forgotten major lessons of history, and need to remember them.

First, evil unattended grows. Reagan knew it, as did JFK, Truman, FDR, Wilson, TR, Lincoln, our Founders, the generals of WWI, WWII, and others. As Edmund Burke wrote, laconically:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” He meant, good men, good women, all lovers of freedom.

What have we done in two dozen years, interrupted only by leaders fighting the tide? Indulged terrorists, given them a nation we swore to liberate and left 100,000 allies, who pledged their lives to us, to die at their hands. Unforgivable.

We have paid money to the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, trying vainly to buy their allegiance, despite their sworn opposition to our whole way of life and form of government.

We have let Europe come under fire by inviting an old Soviet chieftain, now autocrat, to take a chunk of it, the chunk that paid our president under the table through his son for favors.

We let a communist country more powerful in economic and conventional military terms than the Soviet Union was, wrap its tentacles around our economy, technology, and worse – allies.

We have allowed Marxism to root in schools, infecting the next generation, and cheapened citizenship like the Romans, only worse – given sacred rights to criminal non-citizens.

What did Reagan say? “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” How could we have forgotten so fast, and cared so little about our children’s freedom?

Second, life requires faith. While most Americans count themselves Christian, others Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist, our leaders pushed God from the public square, schools, and workplaces. Atheism has crept forward, and government slowly – as Orwell predicted – becomes God.

As Shakespeare wrote, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” skunk the same.  As Robert Burton wrote in 1621, “call a spade a spade.” This spade has no heart.

Reagan, citing the Pledge of Allegiance, also vanished when he said: “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” Most have not; our leaders have.

Third, we forgot to limit government. Even those not worshiping the government forgot to limit it, something our Founders told us we had to do. Reagan cut taxes, regulations, departments, the burden and power; we reversed that. Federal debt then was one trillion; today, it is 35 trillion.

Part of why the Founders limited government – with our Bill of Rights – was to prevent dependence. They knew the process could produce graft, and kill self-reliance. The premise on which our Declaration, Constitution, and first 150 years were all based – was limited government.

As Reagan succinctly stated, and world history teaches, “Either you will control your government or your government will control you.” He did not let us forget; we have.

Fourth, we lost territorial integrity. No nation in history opened its borders and avoided collapse. Empires and nation-states fall when they disrespect their citizens. As Reagan observed, in his strangely prescient way, “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”

Fifth, we misunderstand our culture. Our culture – the American culture – is not relativistic, not “anything goes,” not crime or lawlessness over order and mutual respect. It is the reverse.

Saying we are strong for differences means respecting others’ freedoms, uncensored speech, education, faith, self-defense, due process, and equal protection. To twist these concepts for purposes of oppressing the citizen’s freedom is to wholly misunderstand who we are.

Reagan cogently said what the culture has long known: Words are cheap, freedom hard to maintain, yet the battle for freedom – the courage to preserve it – is what we were founded on.

Wrote Reagan, “We must condemn those who seek to divide us… teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism, and all ethnic or religious bigotry wherever they exist …” The idea is mutual respect, not lawlessness or persecution of speech, faith, and guaranteed rights.

Truth is, Reagan knew, is timeless. Freedoms central to our culture are timeless. Yet today, we trash them, along with our national security, “peace through strength,” deterrence, and readiness.

Perhaps the best lesson Reagan taught, one that guides us now, how we should think, stand our ground, resist oppression, and defend those who do is this one: “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted … It belongs to the brave. So, in a phrase, let us be brave.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.