I was really at a loss for what to write about this week, what with Egypt dominating the news, budget wrangling going on in Congress and the more importantly, the 100th birthday of my political idol, Ronald Reagan. I was about to do a piece on the similarities between Carter and Iran and Obama and Egypt, when I got a call from St. Peter. He wanted to know if I would be interested in interviewing President Reagan. He didn’t have to ask twice:
ME: President Reagan, it is an honor and a privilege. I know we don’t have long, so I’ll get right to it. First, what do you think of the events going on Egypt?
RR: We must make it clear to any country that is tempted to use violence to undermine democratic governments, destabilize our friends, thwart efforts to promote democratic governments, or disrupt our lives that it has nothing to gain, and much to lose.*
ME: There’s been a lot of conjecture about whether this uprising in Egypt is really democratic, or whether it is simply the work of Muslim extremists, like those in Iran. What do you think of the existing Muslim states?
RR: The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.
ME: Do you think new government in Egypt will last longer than Mubarak’s?
RR: Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.
ME: Do you believe the new government in Egypt will that affect the relationship between Egypt and Israel?
RR: Nations do not mistrust each other because they are armed; they are armed because they mistrust each other. In Israel, free men and women are every day demonstrating the power of courage and faith. Back in 1948 when Israel was founded, pundits claimed the new country could never survive. Today, no one questions that. Israel is a land of stability and democracy in a region of tyranny and unrest.
ME: During your time, you didn’t back down from terrorist threats. It seems the current administration stance is one of appeasement. Have we lost our way?
RR: We must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.
ME: OK, moving on to domestic issues. What do you think of the Obama administration?
RR: Let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.
ME: So you’re not a fan?
RR: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
ME: What do you think of President Obama himself?
RR: How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
ME: Ouch. So you think Obama is a communist?
RR: Don't be afraid to see what you see.
ME: OK. What do you think about the birth certificate issue?
RR: There are advantages to being elected President. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified Top Secret.
ME: So, last November, the tea party flexed its electoral muscles in what was seen as a revolt against the status quo…
RR: Status quo, you know, that is Latin for "the mess we're in."
ME: Right, so they won a decisive election victory last November. Any words of advice to the Republican House?
RR: I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp.
ME: Despite the obvious message of the November elections, Obama, in his state of the union speech, offered little in budget cuts. It’s almost as if he doesn’t actually see that there is a problem…
RR: If history teaches anything, it teaches that self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.
ME: So true. But, according to Obama, the way out of a recession is for the government to spend more.
RR: We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
ME: Republicans want to repeal the new healthcare legislation. Do you think government should be involved in our healthcare?
RR: The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
ME: But shouldn’t government provide some sort of safety net?
RR: The size of the federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.
ME: What about for those that just simply can’t find work?
RR: Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders.
ME: Obama’s administration has seen a rise in those on food stamps, almost to the point where they brag about it…
RR: We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added. Families -- not government programs -- are the best way to make sure our children are properly nurtured, our elderly are cared for, our cultural and spiritual heritages are perpetuated, our laws are observed and our values are preserved.
ME: You seem to have a dim view of government…
RR: Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
ME: Is there anything government should do?
RR: Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
ME: So you think government is too large?
RR: There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.
ME: The debt ceiling is currently being discussed. Should it be raised?
RR: The problem is that government spends too much.
ME: There have been rumblings about tax reform, even from a few on the left…
RR: Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of the progressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation? To put it simply, our tax system is unfair, inequitable, counterproductive, and all but incomprehensible. I've mentioned before, and this is absolutely a fact, that even Albert Einstein had to write to the IRS for help with his Form 1040.
ME: So you think Democrats would go along with tax reform?
RR: Republicans believe every day is 4th of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15. We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as his strength and ability will take him…. But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure.
ME: What can we do, as citizens, to fix the economy?
RR: We might come closer to balancing the budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
ME: So you believe the faith and government mix?
RR: Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.
ME: Really? All the problems?
RR: Indeed, it is an incontrovertible fact that all the complex and horrendous questions confronting us at home and worldwide have their answer in that single book. Our coins bear the words 'In God We Trust'. We take the oath of office asking His help in keeping that oath. And we proclaim that we are a nation under God when we pledge allegiance to the flag. But we can't mention His name in a public school or even sing religious hymns that are nondenominational. Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.
ME: So you think faith and freedom are entwined?
RR: Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. Without God, democracy cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
ME: What do you think about the cultural landscape of America today?
RR: Anybody can go to any country in the world, and never adopt their customs or culture. You can go to China and never become Chinese; you can go to France and never become French, but make no mistake about it, you come to America and before you know it, you become American.
ME: Last month we celebrated National Right to Life Day. But Republicans seem more focused on the economy than social issues.
RR: Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.
ME: So you don’t believe we should give up on social issues?
RR: We cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.
ME: During your administration, the Fairness Doctrine was abolished. Yet we’re back at again and the left wants to implement government control over the internet. Do you think they can or should?
RR: It would be inconsistent with the First Amendment and with the American tradition of independent journalism. Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.
ME: Sir, it truly has been an honor. Any closing thoughts?
RR: My fondest hope for each one of you -- and especially for the young people here -- is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
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*All quotes by President Reagan are actual statements he made during his life.