-Caveat Lector-
"Heritage 25: Leadership for America"
Ms. Peggy Noonan, guest speaker on Patriotism
December 9, 1998, Washington, D.C.
On the evening of December 9, 1998 I had the pleasure of attending a
Heritage Foundation-sponsored event in Washington, DC, with Peggy
Noonan, former speechwriter to both President Ronald Reagan and Vice
President George Bush, the guest speaker. In the eighth installment of
the "Heritage 25: Leadership for America" leadership series, Ms. Noonan
shared her vision of "Patriotism" with an excited crowd of about 600
people at DC’s Marriott hotel ballroom.
Ms. Noonan started off with some wonderfully touching stories about
President Reagan, the man who made America feel great about itself –
especially after the disastrous Carter administration -- and who became
one of greatest leaders of our time.
One such story Ms. Noonan recalled was when President Reagan, who during
the early 80’s was being criticized for not meeting with the Soviet
leaders, responded to his critics by saying, "They all just keep dying
off on me." Of course, if you recall, Soviet leaders like Brezhnev,
Andropov and others were, in fact, dying off in succession.
Ms. Noonan reminded the crowd that one of the great things that have
made President Reagan such an awesome leader is his unwavering and
tremendous charismatic sense of humor. Always upbeat. Never
temperamental, she tells us. Always an optimist and a true gentleman.
And maybe one of the last of the true gentleman, she wonders out loud.
Recounting a recent story, told to her by a mutual friend of hers and
President Reagan, she tells us about when Reagan not too long ago
referred to his bout with Alzheimer’s by saying, "The best thing about
having Alzheimer’s is that you always get to meet someone new!" Optimism
in the face of serious adversity. Now that’s class, folks.
A true gentleman, even when faced with such odds, President Reagan
remains an optimist till this day.
Moving on Ms. Noonan tells us about her vision of America in the 1990s.
About how America was, how it should be, taking us back to the Reagan
years.
It’s now two decades since President Reagan hit the national scene. And
while President Reagan gave Americans many reasons to believe in
themselves and the country, the current scandal involving Bill Clinton
has contributed to a notable moral decline in the U.S.
Today, Ms. Noonan tells us, we as a nation are forgetting to teach our
children how to love their country. Our schools fail to teach our
children the Pledge of Allegiance. And to make matters even worse, kids
aren’t even encouraged to say the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of
the day. Nowadays kids think that President’s Day is Bill Clinton’s
birthday! And that’s no joke either. We don’t even celebrate George
Washington’s birthday because we don’t have a George Washington Day.
Where’s the sense of patriotism?
Yet, what saddens Ms. Noonan the most is that our schools are teaching
our young boys and girls – the future of America – the sins of racism
(and all the other "..isms") rather than the important virtues of
[American] patriotism.
In school, via the media and in the movie theaters kids of all ages are
learning about how terrible the U.S. is rather than learning about this
country’s accomplishments. In Hollywood the U.S. is endlessly
hammered. In 1998, Ms. Noonan says, cynicism is a virus. Again, the
scandal involving Bill Clinton has contributed to the growing cynicism.
But, according to Ms. Noonan, none of this discourages folks from all
over the world to immigrate to the United States. "If they’re still
coming, then we still got it," Ms. Noonan proudly proclaims.
Among the many questions Ms. Noonan challenged the audience included:
· We need to ask ourselves whether the internationalization of the
American culture is changing other country’s views of us for the better,
or the worse?
· We need to ask ourselves where is our sense of American history?
· Who will teach immigrants to love America?
It’s certainly not TV. Not Hollywood. It’s up to us, every one of us,
Ms. Noonan proclaims.
In 1998 we lack a sense of patriotism, and we as a nation need to find
ways to bring it back and to teach our children the values of
patriotism. While America is prosperous, what else, besides
materialism, would keep this country together should a recession happen?
We’re living in a "post-patriotism" time, Ms. Noonan says We need to
love this country if we are to grow and remain a strong nation. "You
can loose a country by not loving her," warns Ms. Noonan. We need to do
everything possible to avoid loosing our feelings of autonomy and
tradition. We need to press schools to teach our children to love our
country. As a country we need to remind the media of values and
patriotism.
And, most importantly, in closing, Ms. Noonan reminds us that if
Americans love God, then Americans will learn to love their country – a
country that allows its citizens to love God back.
By Andy C. Szul Jr.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
***
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE.
Schedule Of Upcoming Events:
Leadership by George Will, 1/28/99, Hartford, CT
Human Nature by James Q. Wilson, 3/1/99, Los Angeles, CA
Freedom by William Simon, 3/17/99, Hong Kong
And many others……
For more information on Heritage 25 and other Heritage programs, please
call: 1.800.546.2843.
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