Jun 26 2008
Now I remember; It’s morning again in America
BY VIRGINIA H. SHANAHAN
Every so often I, like many, find myself discouraged, and battle weary. ‘Why,’ I ask, ‘do I bother fighting this political war on a daily basis?’ It is on those dark days, when I believe we conservatives are fighting a losing war, that I dig deep and seek inspiration. This search for encouragement is found in many forms, usually by accident. It can be a simple fleeting thought, a song on the radio, a line in a book, or a scene from a movie.
Late last night as I laid in bed pondering our appalling and shameful presidential options, combined with the likelihood that the democrats will pick up many more seats in both houses, the latest horrific Supreme Court decisions, along with the other preposterous events and blather, I rolled over and fell into a fitful sleep.
This morning as I woke, I felt two warm little bodies pressed against mine. My boys, who at some point in the night crawled in my bed, were snuggled tight against me. As I lay there rubbing their backs my mind drifted back to my previous nights thoughts, and I found that same melancholy attitude threatening to creep into my psyche. ‘No,’ I thought to myself. ‘It’s a new morning.’ BAM! Just like that I knew what to do.
I snuck out of bed, jumped right on the computer, and began to search for two items. The first was a 1984 campaign video paid for by the Reagan-Bush ’84 committee. “It’s morning in America again.” It’s one of those poignant “warm and fuzzy” commercials that leaves you longing for those days of unfettered optimism.
No doubt there are many that will see the name Ronald Reagan and throw something at their computer screen, as they curse his memory. Reagan by no means was a perfect man, nor was he a perfect President, though he was by far the greatest President of my lifetime. One thing is indisputable; The Great Communicator was inspirational.
What made President Reagan so very popular was his positive “can do” attitude, and his obvious enthusiasm and love for our great country. He came off as warm, friendly, and approachable, yet it was clear he was no pushover. He was tough. Though his positions evolved with his wisdom, he was a man of convictions.
After viewing the commercial I felt somewhat better, but I needed a bit more. I sought out his 1980 Republican National Convention Acceptance Address. As I listened it again dawned on me how far removed the RNC is not only from it’s conservative core, which put it back in power, and kept it there for so long, but also the depth of disarray the RNC is really in.
At the beginning of his address Reagan said, “Now, I know that we’ve had — we’ve had a quarrel or two but as only as to the method of attaining a goal. There was no argument here about the goal.”
It is true. There were disagreements, within the party, on the methods, but never the desired outcome. The same cannot be said of today. Not only is there argument about the method, there is argument about the goal itself. The RNC continues to drift further left, and it appears to have no set course.
As I continued to listen, I heard his outright rejection of the doom and gloom that pervaded our society then, as it does today. And in that calming, passionate, purposeful, faithful voice my spirit was restored when at last I heard him say “The time — The time is now, my fellow Americans, to recapture our destiny, to take it into our own hands. And to do this will take away many of us — or will take many of us working together. I ask you tonight all over this land to volunteer your help in this cause so that we can carry our message throughout the land.”
It is morning again in America, and today I remember why I fight. I will proudly carry our message, and help recapture our destiny, but first I crawl back into bed and cuddle with our future.
God bless America.
Ronald Reagan’s 1980 RNC Acceptance Speech
