Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan!

Here is the letter I submitted to the Michigan Daily, because they emailed me really late last night because they needed to "edit" it, it did not get published today, but should be in there tomorrow. I got a lot of the influence for it from Dinish D'Sousa's book Letters to a Young Conservative , so a lot of the really great points are from him.



The Michigan Daily, Letter to the Editor


Honoring the Great President Ronald Reagan

Today is the birthday of one of the greatest Americans of our time, President Ronald Reagan. As Dinesh D’Souza puts it, Reagan was a cheerful, forward looking man who always appreciated the effectiveness of humor. But beneath his jovial nature, Reagan was a determined president and was not afraid to take on the biggest idea of the twentieth century, collectivism. When he first became president, Reagan sought to stop the growth of the welfare state at home, and dismantle the Soviet empire abroad, and he did. Not many people believed he could do it, they thought that the communist regime was unstoppable, but Reagan was the first to say “Government is not the solution. Government is the problem”.

Because of the Reagan Administration’s policies and decisions regarding cutting taxes in the 80’s, America saw an economic boom and the annual deficit had not only vanished, but their was a surplus in the budget! Many claim this is because of the Clinton Administration, but did Clinton really have anything to do with the boom? Nope, it was the economic growth stemming from policies in the Reagan Era that proved to be a tax boom for the treasury.

Reagan today is seen as the hero of the conservative movement. He was successful because he was confident and stood firm on his moral grounds, he did not let the “rough political waters” of Washington dismantle him. He also did not care what the elite culture said about him, he did not wish to win their approval, the only people he needed to satisfy was the American people.

Ronald Reagan, thank you for winning the cold war. Thank you for reviving the American economy and American spirit.

Sarah Ledford
University of Michigan Young Americans for Freedom