Ronald Reagan - part 1

I have wanted to write a post on Ronald Reagan for some time. I originally wrote one on my old blog space, a fairly brief commentary, but I have since forgotten what exactly the address was for that.

There is potentially so much to write about. It is hard to know where to begin. Perhaps the best place is to explain a little of why I have grown to admire Reagan and his achievements. I have generally been someone who has been ready to change his views on subjects, as different revelations occur to me. At one time, I would not have admired Reagan's policies, and possibly in the future I will come to change my views (I am perfectly open to that possibility), but in my present understanding I think Ronald Reagan did much for America, and the world.

I think what most struck me about Reagan, as I was watching some of his best known speeches on an Internet archive (during those days when I had broadband), was the sense of love and humanity he expressed. I'm thinking particularly of the speech he gave in West Berlin in 1987, where he famously declared 'Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'. That was a great moment. But the other words of that speech drew my attention even more. They were words of substance. They were words of meaning. I will repeat here the particular part of that speech that stuck this most. Talking of the enduring spirit of the West Berliners, divided from the Eastern sector of the city by the wall:

What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage. But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole look and feel and way of life--not mere sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions. Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations. Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom. In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love--love both profound and abiding.

This passage perhaps summarises for me Reagan's whole approach to the cold war, and represents, as I understand it, evidence to the contrary regarding the popular view that he was overly belligerant towards the Soviet Union. He was only belligerant in so far as he was criticising systems. It was not individual people he was attacking. He understood that the communism that was practised in the Soviet bloc worked fundamentally against the grain of the human spirit, against the deepest feelings of universal man, and as a result, he took a stand against the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union. But it was governed through a desire, not for American supremacy, but for those under the yoke of Communism to obtain their freedom. He understood that qualities such as love, faith, hope and creativity, were more powerful than what any system could try and prevent. Seeing footage of his speech in Berlin palpatably moved me.

In my student experience, I have experienced several lecturers who have scorned Reagan. I do not object to views that are different from my own. I do, however, object to views that amount, in my opinion, to some degree, of intellectual snobbishness. Views that claim Reagan had limited intelligence are cheap criticism and don't amount to any substantial criticisms of policy. I believe that Reagan's intelligence was of the deepest kind, in the sense that he understood the human being's desire to be free, something which is powerful enough to bring down the most tyrannical of systems of governments. As Reagan said himself, while the values he espoused may have been simple ones, they were not easy. It is my passionate belief that simple values, the values that Reagan advocated, are the most powerful, most transforming ideas for transforming and healing our world, and that the more complicated solutions become, the more ineffective their outcome.

That is my assessment of Reagan the man. Through reading books and seeing footage, I have also come to see, as those who met him saw, his incredible warmth and kindness, his humility.

I feel it is also worth discussing the substance of his domestic policy. Much has been said of his administration's economic policy. I will do so. I feel, at present, however, it is necessary for me to sign off for now, and start thinking about heading to bed, for it is late. Watch this space for commentary on Reagan's domestic policy!