September 29, 2026
One of my favorite presidents is Ronald Reagan. I’m not saying he was the best ever, but he surely wasn’t the worst. And he darned sure was a really good one.
He had years of experience in leadership and government experience, he was wise beyond his years, and he had a great sense of humor. What more could one ask for in a president?
So, let’s start with an example of Reagan’s wonderful sense of humor. This one is a story he told at an appearance he made: “An evangelical minister and a politician arrived at Heaven’s Gate together. And St. Peter, after doing the necessary formalities, took them to show them what was available. He showed them a small room with a bed, and a chair, and a table, and said this was for the Clergyman.
“And the politician was a little worried about what might be in store for him. And he couldn’t believe it when St. Peter stopped in front of a beautiful mansion, with lovely grounds, many servants, and told him that these would be his quarters.
“And he couldn’t help but ask, ‘but wait, how? There’s something wrong. How do I get this mansion when that good and holy man gets only a single room?’
“And St. Peter said, ‘You have to understand how things up here are. We’ve got thousands and thousands of clergy. You’re the first politician who ever made it!’”
And now, to the serious stuff.
Many conservatives remember and mention Reagan these days, four decades after he was President of the United States. They remember things he did, like helping to win the Cold War, rebuilding the nation’s military, cutting taxes, and he believed and often said that America is a great country.
And, as you might imagine, he was very popular. In one of his elections, Reagan won 49 of the 50 states.
Reagan trusted people, and believed they could be trusted with their own freedom. These days, there is a large faction that believes people should depend upon their government, instead.
In his time communism was thriving in the Soviet Union and East Germany. Millions of people lived under communist rule. There was a wall in Berlin, built to keep people from leaving the country and look for a better life. And the general story about communism was that it “was simply the world that we lived in.” And that situation in those countries, regarded as quite normal, was not about to change.
But Reagan rejected that idea. He told Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President of the Soviet Union at the time, to tear down the Berlin Wall. Standing at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, he said that now-famous comment, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Such a statement was quite extraordinary back then. And it has been fondly remembered ever since.
However, not surprisingly, the people suffering under communism were getting tired of it, and a few years later, the people of Berlin were seen standing on top of the Berlin Wall holding sledgehammers.
Reagan believed that America is good, that communism is evil, that freedom is better than tyranny, and that people should be free to run their own lives. Today, millions of Americans want to trade the benefits that America offers for a nation built on socialism.
However, many people understand that socialism is not a good system. It may look that way from the outside, but its record of failure says otherwise. Here are a few comments about it:
“If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists. - Friedrich Hayek
Socialism and communism are but two sides of the same coin.
Socialism: You can vote your way in, but you’ll have to shoot your way out!
And former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, had many comments. Here are three:
* “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
* “Socialists cry ‘Power to the people,’ and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean - power over people, power to the State.”
* “Communism produces neither dignity nor prosperity. It takes all power away from the people and places it in the hands of a self-appointed elite. And because it distorts and manipulates the distinctive talents of individuals rather than letting those talents flourish, it prevents progress and prosperity.”
But the one that ought to get the most attention is this one: “What is usually called socialism was termed by Marx the ‘first’ or lower phase of communist society” - Vladimir Lenin, founding head of government of Soviet Russia.
People who campaign for socialism will tell you things like that socialism really is roads, firefighters, or public schools. But that is false. Those are somewhat natural things. Socialism is control by government of the means of production such as businesses, factories, land, and capital. And that control expands over time to include everything.
Let’s close with this from Reagan. “You know, they say there are only two places where communism works: in heaven, where they don't need it—and in hell, where they've already got it."
