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06/05/2004: "Ronald Wilson Reagan, R.I.P."

Via The Command Post, President Reagan has passed away.

They've just released some DVDs about the Miracle on Ice, about the 1980 U.S.A. Olympic Hockey Team that defeated the Soviets against all odds (it was even more improbable than having the 2004 Pistons beat the Lakers). The nation was beaten down by Viet Nam, Watergate, Inflation, OPEC, Afghanistan, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The Russian Hockey Team was a collection of putative amateur athletes paid as professional soldiers. Actually, they trained for hockey and fought their wars in ice rinks. Hollywood's theme in these DVDs was that the hockey team lifted the spirits of a demoralized nation.

Reagan did the same thing. He said we didn't have to take slump our shoulders when facing our enemies abroad. He said we didn't have to take slump our shoulders when facing our economy. He did it before Jesse said it; he kept hope alive. He cut marginal tax rates and the economy grew. He reinvigorated the armed forces which then curtailed the commies and now astound our enemies with 'bleeding edge' technology.

He was not perfect. Taxes went up in 1986. He let a bomb scare us from Lebanon. But in the end, he did something no hockey team could.

He restored our pride.