The following is an exchange that i had on my fantasy baseball message board, with a good friend. First, my original post, dated June 5th (all links are added here) ...
Just logged on and saw the news that Ronald Reagan had died after a long bout with Alzheimers. I'll probably have more later, but wanted to share some quick thoughts.
Like many in my generation, Reagan shaped my political philosophy far moreso than any other person. And i'm sure that his influence will stay with me for all of my life.
I'll remember him most for bringing America back, and for winning the Cold War without an actual war. Reagan's policies and personality (don't underestimate that element) brought a super-super-power to its knees, and we are forever in his debt.
We'll see you on the other side, Mr. President.
My friend soon posted this reply...
No offense to Reagan or anyone that considers him a hero but thought I would ask a few questions. Not being mean spirited just trying to figure out the man and what he was about.
I was probably too young for him to shape me as some of you say but help me understand how he:
Brought America back
Single handedly won the Cold War without an actual war
Brought a super-super-power to its knees
I always thought America's fate (from a wordly perspective) was in the blood and sweat of it's people. These same people that dream, work, etc. But from a more traditional perspective most of the war veterans that have spoken lately speak about God and His Grace that has kept this country strong. Help me understand how one man turned America around.
The same is true for winning a cold war. I thought the cold war lasted about 40 to 50 years and was waged by multiple people. How can one man gain credit for bringing down the wall?
Same goes for the super power of I guess the soviet union. From what I have seen that regime was destined to fail eventually. Hardly one man could do that in just 8 years.
Finally to say we are forever in debt to one person is strong. Help me understand that one.
Maybe we are forever in debt to the guys that died on Normandy's beach or soldiers that lost their lives in the Pacific campaign. I would even go for being forever in debt to the WWII generation in general as opposed to one man.
Not trying to be cynical but most of my heros are guys like my next door neighbor who fought in WWII or people like my grandfather who was a P.O.W. in Nazi Germany for nine months. Further heros are some people I have met recently and they meet twice a week just to pray for our country.
Once again I think Reagan has his place in history and I admire his rise to the top. But I need more understanding of how a person gets to such legendary status.
I always thought this country and what it stood for was much bigger than any one man. I think even Reagan would agree.....But I am young and a little naive so forgive me for any rude remarks.
When you answer remember that I already have read the paper and online stories. So I don't want a rehash of the past but your true conviction of why he is your hero.
I responded...
Note first that i didn't call Reagan my hero. That was Phil, although i don't have any issues with that. There's room in our hearts & minds for more than one hero, in more than one area of life. You might be my fantasy football hero, for example.
And our heroes may be flawed. I'd bet many of us consider our dads to be our heroes -- i know i do. And we all know more than anyone how our dads are flawed, but that doesn't make them less of a hero. Or should i say, that doesn't make them unworthy of being a hero.
But my original post was not about heroes; it was about how Reagan embodied what came to be my political philosophy, and about what he did for America as our President.
Back in 1980, i was not old enough to vote, but i was for Carter, if only because i believed the hype that Reagan would get us into a war, and i was going to be of draft-age soon (remember- the draft had ended as recently as 1973). Out of nothing more than pure selfishness, i didn't want go to war, and so i supported Carter.
Even in 1984, early in that campaign, i still hadn't seen the light, and was actually favoring some guy named Gary Hart for my first presidential vote, enough to be selected as a Hart caucus delegate from my hometown precinct. But sometime between the local caucus and the regional/state meeting, i got the Reagan religion. I never went to that regional meeting, and have never looked back politically.
(I wish i could remember my conversion experience, but i truly don't. It was probably related more to an issue like abortion, rather than fiscal policy.)
So, some of my admiration for Reagan was in retrospect, because i wasn't wise enough to appreciate it at the time. And i started thinking more for myself, doing my own research, rather than relying on the national news.
"Bringing America Back" - you may have been too young to have felt the national mood back in 1979/80, but it wasn't a pretty time. Huge recession, huge inflation, energy crisis, no Summer Olympics, Carter's malaise speech, still in hangover from Watergate & Vietnam. And then to top it off, Iran takes scores of Americans hostage, and keeps them hostage for over a year.
Simply put, by force of his resolve and personality, Reagan turned all that around. Turned it around on its ear, on a dime. Also, our military strength was restored under Reagan, as he doubled the size of the miliatry budget, rectifying an alarming situation with our defense.
"Winning the Cold War" - I don't really have much to add to what you have surely seen by now in all those newspaper and online articles you have read. But again, you have to go back to the pre-Reagan years, and understand where we were. It was an era of appeasement, nuclear freeze-niks, and constant talk of who had which missles pointed at whom. It was an era where the future looked to be one of forever detente (at best), with each super-power pretty much held in check by the other, and the pall of a nuclear war threat hovered darkly over us all.
And all the while, the people in the Communist bloc suffered greatly. Reagan's was the primary voice saying "Enough!". Reagan was theone with the nads to call the USSR an "evil empire", to tell Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!" And Reagan was the one whose (again, here is that combo) resolve and personality allowed a successful negotiation with Gorbachev, and the ultimate end to the Soviet Union.
If Reagan had not been President, i believe that the USSR would still be limping along. While not quite the super-power that it had been, it would still be oppressing its people under an atheistic, communist philosophy. There would still be gulags. There would have been another Afghanistan or two. Reagan made sure that the grandson of your next-door neighbor didn't have to experience what his grandfather experienced.
Was it just one man? No, certainly not. But if Reagan had not been President, that i do truly believe that these things would not have come to pass as well as they did for America. I do truly believe that strong leadership makes a huge difference in most any endeavor.
You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why. 
