Attitude can be everything. It can define you, inspire you, deplete you, revive you. Sometimes I wonder what it must have been like to hear, see, and be around Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, our Founders, listening to them talk, dream, wonder, and fight.
Ronald Reagan, in his time, reflected their attitude. My younger self did get to hear and see him. Although Reagan governed more than 200 years after the founding of our country, he somehow internalized, understood, lived by, and communicated our Founders’ timeless truths.
As a very young man, just out of high school, Reagan was a lifeguard – and by all indications, rescued 77 swimmers over four years of lifeguarding a river so swift that people no longer swim it. He also dropped a line in his high school yearbooks: “Life is one grand sweet song, so start the music.”
That inner optimism, that can-do, will-do, make-it-happen, love the dawn, and love others attitude defined him over the course of his long life, no self-pity, no letting others do for him what he could do for himself, and no victimhood, despite being the son of an alcoholic, raised with very little.
No, to Reagan, every day was filled with the spirit of America, literally lifting him, filled with opportunity, possibility, and all the wonder a boy, young man, and even older man could imagine. He never gave in to discouragement or depression, nor gave up in any principled fight.
When the time came for him to talk politics, well before the California Governor’s race, just trying to help a GOP presidential candidate (Barry Goldwater), Reagan gave his famous speech “A Time for Choosing.” He was speaking about – and to – the present and future nation with urgency.
“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.”
He foresaw victory with conviction, but he knew God was in charge, and so he added this. “If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.” He did not fail. In his time, he envisioned, believed, and fought for truth.
On the policy side, his wisdom still lives, and we should drink of it often and think on it deeply. He used humor on occasion to capture the public mind and cause people to think about life and death.
Very seriously, he observed: “Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.” Such a succinct and simple thought, and so very, very true and right.
Asked about the difference between conservatism and libertarianism – two of the world’s many ‘isms – he said: “The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom, and this is a pretty general description also of libertarianism is.” In other words, there is a common thread: Less government, more liberty.
Sometimes what he did was articulate, say plainly, what we might call common sense, stuff we know but often forget – or are pushed to forget. “I am convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority.” Does it get any truer or simpler than that? I think not.
Laconically, with the kind of effect that a clap in a church might make or a slap on marble, he said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Half of America remembers. The other half needs to learn.
“The American dream of human progress through freedom and equality of opportunity is competitive enterprise …is still the most revolutionary idea in the world today. It’s also the most successful.” Is it any wonder America has 425 Nobel prizes, and Communist China has nine?
In another classic Reagan statement of common sense, sprinkled with humor, he said. “The best social reform program in the world is a job.”
On one of his more serious notes, he always – truly always – was a man of hope, and reminded us to envision, believe, and work for the things for which we hoped. “Anything is possible in America if we have the faith, the will, and the heart. History is asking us once again to be a force for good in the world.” He was, he inspired us to be, and even now – his words and spirit should lift and inspire us.
Perhaps last but most compelling, he reminded us that nothing comes for free, nothing. Everything worth working for involves risk, sacrifice, and selflessness. In closing, one of his enduring warnings and calls to action was this one: The future does not belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave.” May we be as brave in our time as our Founders and Reagan’s generation were in theirs.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
