THAT'S THE TICKET (via Bryan Francoeur):

In Solidarity: The Polish people, hungry for justice, preferred "cowboys" over Communists. (LECH WALESA, June 11, 2004, Wall Street Journal)

When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989.

Poles fought for their freedom for so many years that they hold in special esteem those who backed them in their struggle. Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe in the dark days of the Cold War meant a lot to us. We knew he believed in a few simple principles such as human rights, democracy and civil society. He was someone who was convinced that the citizen is not for the state, but vice-versa, and that freedom is an innate right.

I often wondered why Ronald Reagan did this, taking the risks he did, in supporting us at Solidarity, as well as dissident movements in other countries behind the Iron Curtain, while pushing a defense buildup that pushed the Soviet economy over the brink. Let's remember that it was a time of recession in the U.S. and a time when the American public was more interested in their own domestic affairs. It took a leader with a vision to convince them that there are greater things worth fighting for. Did he seek any profit in such a policy? Though our freedom movements were in line with the foreign policy of the United States, I doubt it.

I distinguish between two kinds of politicians. There are those who view politics as a tactical game, a game in which they do not reveal any individuality, in which they lose their own face. There are, however, leaders for whom politics is a means of defending and furthering values. For them, it is a moral pursuit. They do so because the values they cherish are endangered. They're convinced that there are values worth living for, and even values worth dying for. Otherwise they would consider their life and work pointless. Only such politicians are great politicians and Ronald Reagan was one of them.

Perhaps the best way to judge President Reagan is by which folks are thanking him and which deriding him.

MORE:
For Russian émigrés, Reagan was 'like a ticket to freedom' (Charisse Jones, 6/11/04, USA TODAY)

"The name 'Reagan' for us was like a ticket to freedom," says Rita Kagan, 51, who came to the USA in 1991 with her parents and son. "Reagan for us wasn't just a president. He was a man who changed our lives." [...]

The women remember Reagan's visit to Moscow's Red Square in 1988. They recall his speeches and how they were moved by his presence and passion, though they understood little English.

"He knew how to deal with Russia," says Raya Khaimchayev, 65, who was denied permission to leave the Soviet Union for 18 years before finally coming to the USA in 1991. "We are very grateful for what he did."

Bella Bykov, 56, and her husband tried to emigrate in 1985, fearful that their son, then 17, might have to join the Red Army in Afghanistan. "We didn't think he'd have the future he'd have here because he was a Jewish boy," she says.

Two years later, the family unexpectedly got permission to come to the USA. "Now we understand it was because of Reagan," she says.

Reagan holds a sacred place in the heart of Lyuba Tarnorutskaya. "When I go to synagogue, I can compare him only with Moses," says Tarnorutskaya, 57, who came to the USA in 1990. "Now," she says, beginning to cry, "I feel so sorry that I could not express my gratitude when he was alive."

-Pope: Reagan 'changed the lives of millions' (Associated Press, Jun. 6, 2004)

Pope John Paul II paid tribute Sunday to former President Ronald Reagan, recalling his efforts to bring down communism that "changed the lives of millions of people," a Vatican spokesman said.

On the second-day of a 32-hour pilgrimage to Switzerland, John Paul learned of Reagan's death with "sadness" and immediately prayed for the "eternal rest of his soul," said papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

The pope and the Reagan White House worked closely in the 1980s in efforts to promote the Solidarity labor movement in the pope's native Poland and to end the Soviet grip on eastern Europe.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 11, 2004 9:31 AM