Ronald Reagan

Tornei-me Reaganista nos meus 15 anos, com a sua eleição. Assim passei pelos anos 80 no nosso Portugal nacionalizado. Para ser franco, sentia-me só na altura como hoje o sinto às vezes numa direita que em muitos pontos não reconheço. E hoje também sou crítico de alguns aspectos da sua presidência. Mas a verdade é que tenho saudades daqueles tempos - a guerra fria, o bem e o império do mal. Muitos desejam reeditar esse sentimento (e que me tornava eufórico, a luta intelectual contra o marxismo, etc.) ao combater o "terrorismo". Mas Reagan era único, hoje os tempos são outros, e as coisas não são tão simples e lineares (se é que alguma vez o foram) como nesses tempos e quando penso nesses tempos só me apetece dizer: I miss Reagan. I love America. God bless them.

Joseph Sobran exprime exactamente aquilo que sinto hoje em Looking Back at Reagan.

"Many principled conservatives saw through Reagan long before I did — if I ever did. He had a way of convincing sentimentalists like me that he shared our passions, despite any appearances to the contrary. I was a sucker for him, and maybe I still am. I think I know better now, but I’m not entirely sure.

Strange, the way some men can make you want to believe in them. Whatever that quality is, Reagan had it. At one time, about half my friends were Reagan speechwriters, and every one of them worshipped him. They’re still writing loving books about him.

That was my generation. We’ll never feel that way about another politician. Maybe you can be pardoned for getting carried away like that once in your life, but in any case it can’t happen twice.

If you’re really wise, it won’t even happen to you once. The U.S. Constitution defines the president’s duties very narrowly, and they don’t include running the economy, bombing villages, or even telling great jokes.

Reagan wasn’t a great president. “Great” presidents, as usually conceived, are unconstitutional. I like to think Reagan understood this. At least I’m pretty sure he was the last president who even glanced at the Constitution once in a while."