{"id":2656,"date":"2024-09-04T18:46:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T23:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/?p=2656"},"modified":"2024-09-05T14:41:31","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T19:41:31","slug":"ronald-reagan-from-the-grave-on-respecting-our-military-and-our-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/2024\/09\/04\/ronald-reagan-from-the-grave-on-respecting-our-military-and-our-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronald Reagan from the Grave on Respecting our Military and our Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Drawing inspiration from the words and leadership of former President Ronald Reagan, the following message reflects the core values he often emphasized: unity, service, and dedication to our nation. Direct quotes from Reagan are italicized<\/em>.

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\u201cMy fellow Americans, I\u2019ve always believed that we\u2019re a nation that never stops striving to be better. It\u2019s who we are at our core. And today, let\u2019s talk about something that touches the very heart of what makes this country great, honoring the men and women of our armed forces. These brave men and women embody the very best of us. To them, words like service, sacrifice, and duty aren\u2019t just ideals, they are a way of life.

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\u201cYou might remember me as the guy with a fondness for jelly beans, a good joke, and an unshakable belief that America\u2019s best days were always ahead of us. And if not, just think of me as a friendly soul reminding you that freedom, like those jelly beans, never goes out of style. Yes, you\u2019ve heard me proclaim, that \u2018Freedom 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<\/em>.\u2019 The men and women of our armed forces have taken up that fight. They\u2019ve protected our freedom at great personal cost. All so that we and future generations can continue to live in this blessed land of liberty. Now, let\u2019s honor their sacrifice, and let\u2019s keep that flame of freedom burning bright, so that America’s best days are still ahead of us.

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\u201cNow, you may have heard some folks using words like \u2018suckers\u2019 and \u2018losers\u2019 to describe our military. Well, let me set the record straight. That\u2019s wrong and downright un-American! Our service members aren\u2019t pawns in anyone\u2019s political games. They are our heroes, the guardians of our freedom, the defenders of our democracy, and the protectors of our rule of law. They are the reason our beautiful flag keeps flying high, free, and proud. For all this, \u2018we owe them a debt we can never repay<\/em>.\u2019

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\u201cNow, I know common sense isn\u2019t always so common, but you don\u2019t have read a book to know that our military isn\u2019t made up of \u2018losers.\u2019  And as for the recent political antics at Arlington? Well, let\u2019s be clear, that\u2019s not just any patch of land. It\u2019s \u2018hallowed ground<\/em>\u2019 that \u2018never fails to evoke in us a sense of wonder and mystery<\/em>\u2019 for those who gave their lives. The men and women who rest there personify the enduring, beating heart of what makes this nation great. \u2018They gave up everything for our country, for us.<\/em>\u2019 So, how can we, as a free and proud people, allow their honor to be tarnished by careless words or callous actions? The answer is simple. We can\u2019t, and we won\u2019t. Not on our watch.

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\u201cIndeed, my fellow Americans, we\u2019re not talking about political rough-housing even as bad as that is. What we\u2019re talking about here strikes at the very heart of who we are and who we strive to be as a nation. We all witnessed our precious democracy being threatened and shaken on January 6th, 2021. We saw how sometimes fragile our principles of law and order truly are. This was not some harmless stunt. It was an unlawful, unconstitutional, violent assault on the peaceful transfer of power, on our democratic institutions, and on everything that binds this incredible nation together. And let me tell you, folks, when the constitutional glue that holds us together is violated and cracked, it\u2019s up to all of us to patch it up and make it stronger than ever.

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\u201cI\u2019ve said it before, and I\u2019ll say it again, \u2018If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under<\/em>.\u2019 January 6th was a sobering reminder of what can happen when we let the bonds of unity be torn apart by crass name calling, self-serving falsehoods, and reckless ambition. And let\u2019s be honest, folks, such division may grab headlines, but it sure won\u2019t get us anywhere constructive. Those who incited that violence didn\u2019t just stir up chaos. They killed people, and they betrayed what our brave men and women in uniform have fought to protect for generations. These are lines we don\u2019t cross, and it\u2019s up to us to ensure that it never happens again.

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\u201cPlease remember my words: \u2018Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.<\/em>\u2019 What we saw on January 6th was the opposite of that. It was a rejection of everything good, noble, and frankly, decent about our country. It wasn\u2019t a bad day in the news cycle. It was an unforgettable wrong to our liberty that should remind us to hold tightly to the values we hold dear. We can\u2019t afford to ignore what happened or who was behind it. The future of our democratic republic depends on us learning from that day. After all, America\u2019s has always been at its best when we take the hard lessons together, roll up our sleeves, and turn our hard experiences into something better.

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\u201cI\u2019m not one to be easily disheartened, but we\u2019ve all heard the words of a particularly disrespectful man who claimed that prisoners of war weren\u2019t heroes, saying he liked \u2018people who weren\u2019t captured.\u2019 Let me set the record straight, Senator John McCain, along with every service member who has fought, bled, and sacrificed for this country, is a hero. McCain is not a \u2018loser.\u2019 Remember how I praised Senator Jeremiah Denton, another prisoner of war. Denton showed \u2018us all what it means to have courage, to stand firm in the face of unspeakable cruelty, and to maintain an unyielding faith in the cause of freedom<\/em>.\u2019 Well, those same words apply to Senator John McCain and to every brave soul who has put their life on the line for our country. And the disrespectful people, who belittled our heroes\u2019 extraordinary bravery and strength, have no understanding of what makes America truly great.

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\u201cMy fellow Americans, I call on all of us to remember the values that have made this country a shining beacon of hope and freedom. We didn\u2019t get here by accident, and we certainly won\u2019t stay here by taking those values for granted. So, let\u2019s honor our military with the deep respect they\u2019ve earned, and extend that same respect to one another and to the democracy they\u2019ve fought to protect.

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\u201cNow, I know it might seem like we\u2019re more divided than ever these days, but our history reveals a compelling hope. We\u2019ve always been at our best when we come together united in purpose. And trust me, when Americans, with all their differences, put their hearts and minds to something, there\u2019s nothing we can\u2019t achieve.

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\u201cI know I\u2019m not here in the flesh able to share my jar of jelly beans, but humor an old president for a moment. Flaws and all, please, remember too what was best about me, and what is best about our country. Let\u2019s set aside the excessive politics and division. Instead, let\u2019s focus on the values that unite us, the honor, respect, and unity our country needs. These values, supported by our respectful words and actions, don\u2019t require perfection or a particular party affiliation. They just require our good hearts and the will to put this into practice.

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\u201cThank you, America, for honoring those who serve our country and for continuing to build a nation where freedom can endure for generations to come. May God bless our troops, our veterans, our democracy, and all us people who live and work for this great country, the United States of America.\u201d

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Ronald Reagan had a special gift for seeing and expressing the best in America and its people. He deeply respected the values that make our nation strong: freedom, unity, and optimism for the future. Today, his words and spirit remind us that we have the power to rise higher, strive for more, and come together with a shared purpose. In doing so, we protect the democracy that so many have sacrificed for and reclaim our lives from the sad divisiveness that has plagued us for too long. This path begins with simple steps: honoring our heroes, respecting one another, and safeguarding our democracy. The future of this great country depends on us.

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Drawing inspiration from the words and leadership of former President Ronald Reagan, the following message reflects the core values he often emphasized: unity, service, and dedication to our nation. Direct quotes from Reagan are italicized. \u201cMy fellow Americans, I\u2019ve always … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[281,1,282,280],"tags":[268,283,270],"class_list":["post-2656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democracy","category-general","category-january-6","category-respecting-military","tag-democracy","tag-respecting-military","tag-ronald-reagan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2691,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions\/2691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}