Posted by
Eric Hobbs on Sunday, March 14, 2010 4:44:20 PM
In the hills of Southern California, deep within one of the liberal strongholds of America, sits the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, perhaps the last beacon of conservsatism in the area.
Simply put, the Reagan Library can easily be called a Mecca of conservatism. Besides being a museum of his life, there are videos playing that highlight some of the great moments from the Reagan presidency. From winning the Cold War to shrinking the size of government, the library demonstrates how Ronald Reagan was perhaps the greatest president of the 20th century.
The first portion of the tour includes a look at Reagan as a child and his hometown of Dixon, Illinois, including baby pictures, his high school letter sweater, and other personal artifacts.
After seeing his childhood, we get a look at Reagan the actor, including costumes worn, pictures from roles, and a movie highlighting his roles. Notre Dame even donated the letter sweater worn by the real George Gipp to the library to remember his role as the Gipper. The section also includes the actual resturant booth in which he proposed to Nancy Reagan.
Once in the presidential area, you can see an x-ray of Reagan’s chest after being shot, along with the bulletproof vest he wore when leaving the hospital. More importantly, there are videos playing that show Reagan correctly asserting that public sector employees cannot go on strike when air-traffic controllers tried to and of Reagan demanding that a certain wall be torn down.
It’s only fitting that a piece of the now-torn down Berlin Wall stands outside the Reagan library.
For all the interesting artifacts in the museum, the most impressive has to be the recently retired Air Force One. Along with a retired Marine One and Reagan’s presidential limosuine, the jet used by Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush 43 is simply awesome.
If you stop and really think about everything as you take the tour, it’s impossible to not think about the impact President Reagan had on conservatism, as well as the country as a whole. Today, we need to remember what he stood for, and how those beliefs are curently under attack from Washington.
As liberals in Washington try let government slither further into our lives, some of us wonder what Reagan would have said of done. Reagan knew this was a threat, and in 1961, he spoke out against oversized goverment and socialized medicine.
One of Reagan’s greatest quotes comes into play here:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
If we aren’t careful, Obama and Pelosi will radicalize our government, and we will become that generation that let freedom die in our country. We must fight to make sure that we, nor any other generation, are not the ones to extinguish the flame of liberty.