Reagan's place in history

By Ted A. LeGrand

Ronald Reagan, the nation's 40th president, recently lost his long and arduous battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Reagan left the world a better place. Most of us set that goal sometime during our lives. He certainly succeeded.

Many people will look back at the Reagan years with fondness. Others will not. There have been many books written about him. His early years set the stage for a full and interesting life. As a young lifeguard, he save the lives of 77 people. He was a college football player, a radio announcer, a movie actor, a two-term governor of California and was twice elected to serve as our president. That's quite a list.

The comparisons to past presidents will intensify now that he is gone. There will be polls ranking him, depending on the pollsters and how the questions are asked, at varying levels of mediocrity and greatness. There will be praise for his peace-through-strength foreign policies and his get-out-of-the-way-of-the-American-worker domestic policies. Some will decry his "evil empire" comment against communism as too aggressive. Others will applaud it as the honesty needed at the time to show the foes of America that we stand for freedom and are ready to sacrifice for it. Those of us with an intense love of freedom will always remember the words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

The comparisons undoubtedly will include the similarities and differences between two of the giants of the 20th century: Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt. There were certainly others who held the office, endured troubling times and made decisions of great import. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln will rightfully be recognized for their magnificent contributions to America. Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower all needed broad shoulders in their times.

However, the debates that center on Reagan and FDR will be heated an unceasing.

The Republican Reagan was a man of vision and action. He knew well before his years as president the direction he wanted to take the country. When elected, he got busy and led. The Democrat Roosevelt was president during the Depression and most of World War II. Both men had the confidence of the people. That in itself is a huge accomplishment for anyone who holds office.

What is the clear distinction between the two? The annals of history will tell us. Reagan believed in America and the American people. Roosevelt believed in the federal government and bureaucrats. One, rugged individualism. The other, government solutions. This is a very simplistic and indeed arguable. Imagine the intense conjecture: How would Reagan have handled the Depression? How would Roosevelt have dealt with the communist threat?

Let's examine one government program more closely: Social Security. FDR saw a government remedy to provide for retired workers. Reagan would have known that taking money away from Americans and putting it into the hands of bureaucrats would make the elderly economic slaves of Washington, D.C.

For the sake of discussion, say Social Security is baloney and private pensions are steak. What happens to the baloney after it reaches Washington? Well, the bureaucrats slice it and give it back to you according to their rules. They also use your money for other government programs when they think it will buy them more votes or keep you from seeing what poor stewards they are of the federal budget. And when you die, the money you have been earning all of your working life is now theirs.

What happened to the steak of private savings plans? It is yours. You own it. If you need it during your life, there it is. If not, your children are the beneficiaries of your had work.

Is there a need for government? Emphatically, yes. When government works well, it can make our lives better. Sadly, too often our lives are needlessly complicated because of bureaucrats. Who can truly understand the tax code? And how long are we going to let our inner-city public schools deteriorate under federal control?

Using the power of the federal government the proper way, to the extent a liberal Congress would allow, Reagan changed the United States from a Carter crow to a Reagan eagle. American pride was once again rampant.

When Reagan ended a speech by saying, "After all, we are Americans," you were proud. You felt that any task given to us by an anxious world would be mastered. Teach your children that America is not just the name of the country. It is the place the world looks to when it thinks of liberty and the possibilities of human experience.

We never want a president to end a speech with "After all, we are bureaucrats." That would be baloney.

Ted A. LeGrand resides in Advance, Mo.