THE TORCH IS BORNE:

Mourning in America (James K. Glassman, 6/07/04, Tech Central Station)

It was not George H. W. Bush, Reagan's vice president for eight years and his successor in the White House for four, who carried the torch. It is George W. Bush.

First, like Reagan, the current president adopted a simple, straightforward program and is resolutely pursuing it: 1) cutting taxes, 2) bringing the fight against terrorism directly to the enemy, 3) building democracy in parts of the world where it has been suppressed, and 4) advocating compassionate, conservative policies in health care, the environment and education.

Substitute "communism" for "terrorism" in the in the second part of the program, and you have -- at least for numbers one through three -- the same goals pursued by Reagan.

Second, like Reagan, the current president is determined to see his program through -- despite the opposition of the media, academia, the bureaucracy, Europe and, unfortunately, parts of the business community as well.

Third, like Reagan, the current president has an optimistic view of America. As Reagan said in his second inaugural, "There are no limits to growth and human progress, when men and women are free to follow their dreams." Bush, also, sees this nation and its people as a force for good in the world with a glorious future -- again, in contrast to Europeans and European wannabes on the East and West Coasts.

we've a great need to believe that we and the times we live in are unique, but things don't change much and people not at all. The usual suspects have the same things to say about George Bush and the liberalization of the Middle East as they did about Ronald Reagan and the liberalization of Eastern Europe. And they're just as right this time.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 7, 2004 11:43 AM