Reagan’s Example

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Posted: Sep 30, 2022 3:54 PM

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Simi Valley, California — “I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.“Those words from the late President Ronald Reagan appear above where he and his beloved Nancy’s earthly remains rest here at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Visiting before the National Review Institute’s annual Buckley Prize dinner, I unexpectedly found these words a little jarring. What leading politician believes such things anymore?At the groundbreaking of the library, Reagan said: “The journey has not just been my own. It seems I’ve been guided by a force much larger than myself, a force made up of ideas and beliefs about what this country is and what it could be. The story that’ll be told … here is the story not only of a presidency but of a movement — a determined movement dedicated to the greatness of America and faith in its bedrock traditions; in the essential goodness of its people; in the essential soundness of its institutions; and, yes, faith in our very essence as a nation.“With his typical humor, President Reagan raised a challenge during his farewell address in 1989, emphasizing the importance of family and the choices Americans make daily: “Let …