"THE INVISIBLE HAND . . ."

While Obama Observes Memorial Day By Playing Golf . . . Lex Rex Remembers Ronald Reagan

Seligman, Arizona

Memorial Day, the USA's national day to remember or like Obama to play golf and pause for a moment of silence. I spent the day travelling from Gallup, New Mexico to Seligman, Arizona on old Route 66, with a side trip to the Grand Canyon.

Last night my family and I stayed at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico. The hotel was built in 1937 to accomadate Hollywood. Westerns were a mainstay in the golden age of Hollywood and Gallup was at the center of the best scenes for making Westerns. So, a hotel was built and it thrives today on old Route 66.

A frequent guest in those Hollywood years was Ronald Reagan. In fact I saw several photographs signed and unsigned of Ronald Reagan hanging in the massive two story lobby of the El Rancho Hotel. That same night my family and I ate at the restaurant in the hotel and they had "The Ronald Reagan" sandwich, which is a hamburger with bacon and cheese served with a side of jelly beans. My son ordered that for his entrée and I explained how Ronald Reagan loved his jelly beans. It also brought back the memory the last time I was in California, I was there when Ronald Reagan passed away. Now, my family and myself are on the way to California via Route 66 and I remember Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan typified America, especially small town America, he was a gentleman who respected and loved people. That is why I am sadden when some conservatives and Republicans say that, "we must move past Ronald Reagan."

This is a falsehood, because being conservative is being a person who basis their belief and view of government upon principles. Ronald Regan embodied those principles and was a champion of the ideal that the individual is the one ordained by His Creator with unalienable rights and that the role of government is to preserve those rights, not the other way around.

I know one thing, on Memorial Day Ronald Reagan would honor those who have died for our freedoms in a way that is most deserving and he would spend the day serving the American people instead if playng golf.

On this day I remember Ronald Reagan.

-Lex Rex

OBAMA V. REAGAN: REAGAN'S "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH" WINS

I enjoyed my post today, so much, I had to create a YOUTUBE video of "ITS 3 a.m. and NO OBAMA."

Thanks again to Jeffrey Lord's Article, "Three Presidents and Hijacking at Sea."

A very heartfelt thanks to the President who made this country stronger with his "Peace Through Strength" fortitude, President Ronald Reagan.

 

-LEX REX

RONALD REAGAN ENJOYS A BIG MAC: INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY vs. STATE INTERVENTION

"BIG MAC" RONALD REAGAN THE REAL DEAL

Yesterday, marked a key date in American History, Obama signed into Law the biggest one time expansion of Government in USA's History.  It is also interesting to note, that on this day back in 1981 President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation in an address to the Joint Session of Congress, outlining His plan for economic recovery.  Today, Obama gives a speech about the Home Mortgage Crisis.  The two speeches talking about pressing economic times in America's History, and approaches to solve those problems, however, the dialog and solutions are much different.  

President Reagan's address speaks of hope, optimism, and individual responsibility, whereas Obama's address resonates a doom and gloom with nearly a Trillion in State Intervention.  

The Economic Picture under Reagan was bleak, He came into office with 13.58% Inflation, 7.6% unemployment rate with roughly 8,273,000 unemployed Americans,  the purchasing power of the Average American Salary was plunging faster than the Titanic.  This is how the Real Deal, Big Mac Ronald Reagan responded:

Can we, who man the ship of state, deny it is somewhat out of control? Our national debt is approaching $1 trillion. A few weeks ago I called such a figure, a trillion dollars, incomprehensible, and I've been trying ever since to think of a way to illustrate how big a trillion really is. And the best I could come up with is that if you had a stack of thousand-dollar bills in your hand only 4 inches high, you'd be a millionaire. A trillion dollars would be a stack of thousand-dollar bills 67 miles high. The interest on the public debt this year we know will be over $90 billion, and unless we change the proposed spending for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, we'll add another almost $80 billion to the debt.

Adding to our troubles is a mass of regulations imposed on the shopkeeper, the farmer, the craftsman, professionals, and major industry that is estimated to add $100 billion to the price of the things we buy, and it reduces our ability to produce. The rate of increase in American productivity, once one of the highest in the world, is among the lowest of all major industrial nations. Indeed, it has actually declined in the last 3 years.

Now, I've painted a pretty grim picture, but I think I've painted it accurately. It is within our power to change this picture, and we can act with hope. There's nothing wrong with our internal strengths. There has been no breakdown of the human, technological, and natural resources upon which the economy is built.

Based on this confidence in a system which has never failed us, but which we have failed through a lack of confidence and sometimes through a belief that we could fine-tune the economy and get it tuned to our liking, I am proposing a comprehensive four-point program. Now, let me outline in detail some of the principal parts of this program. You'll each be provided with a completely detailed copy of the entire program.

This plan is aimed at reducing the growth in government spending and taxing, reforming and eliminating regulations which are unnecessary and unproductive or counterproductive, and encouraging a consistent monetary policy aimed at maintaining the value of the currency. If enacted in full, this program can help America create 13 million new jobs, nearly 3 million more than we would have without these measures. It will also help us to gain control of inflation.

Out of that partial explanation of USA's troubles in 1981 is the power of the individual, not the collective or State.  Now, today, our unemployment is 5.8% with nearly 8,924,000 unemployed, our inflation is around 3.25% and President Obama is still prophesying DOOM & GLOOM even after the MASSIVE STATE INTERVENTION has become law:

"Our housing crisis was born of eroding home values, but also of the erosion of our common values. It was brought about by big banks that traded in risky mortgages in return for profits that were literally too good to be true; by lenders who knowingly took advantage of home buyers; by home buyers who knowingly borrowed too much from lenders; by speculators who gambled on rising prices; and by leaders in our nation's capital who failed to act amidst a deepening crisis.

"So solving this crisis will require more than resources -- it will require all of us to take responsibility. Government must take responsibility for setting rules of the road that are fair and fairly enforced. Banks and lenders must be held accountable for ending the practices that got us into this crisis in the first place. Individuals must take responsibility for their own actions. And all of us must learn to live within our means again.

"These are the values that have defined this nation. These are values that have given substance to our faith in the American Dream. And these are the values that we must restore now at this defining moment.

"It will not be easy. But if we move forward with purpose and resolve -- with a deepened appreciation for how fundamental the American Dream is and how fragile it can be when we fail in our collective responsibilities -- then I am confident we will overcome this crisis and once again secure that dream for ourselves and for generations to come."

Mr. Obama's tone focuses more on the State, the government, and the collective, why should the government step-in, when an individual does not manage his money in the right way?  Sometimes an individual learns from Bankruptcy, i.e. Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, sometimes the best course of action is to lose your home and start again, learning from your mistakes.   Individual Resilience  and self-reliance, individual responsibility is all lacking from Obama's initiative, unlike Reagan, the real deal, who provided us with the road map to the greatest economic expansion in the USA:

reduce the growth of government spending,

reduce marginal tax rates on income from labor and capital,

reduce government regulation of the economy,

control the money supply to reduce inflation.                

THE KEYS TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY FOCUSING ON INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND LESS GOVERNMENT,  thank you, President Ronald Reagan, and thank you for showing us we must buy our own BIG MAC.

-LEX REX 

WHAT WE NEED IS HOPE . . . NOT CHANGE

In 1977 I attended the Jerry Ford Invitational Golf Tournament in Vail, Colorado, out of that experience came a chance meeting with one of the greatest entertainers that America has ever known, Mr. Bob Hope.  There I was in the stairwell of the condo I was staying at, and here comes a man dressed in a suit walking past my friend and I.  Right away I knew it was Bob Hope, I had seen many of his movies and even watched him play golf earlier in the day.  As he passed I said, "Mr. Hope, Mr. Hope, may I have your autograph.  Bob Hope graciously stopped and I went down the few stairs to the landing to meet him, I shook his hand and then asked for his autograph.  I took out the only piece of paper I had which was my ticket to the golf tournament, however I did not have anything to write with, but that did not stop Mr. Hope he took a golf pencil from his pocket and then used my back on which he placed the tournament pass and with the stroke of a pencil created a life -long memory for a young fan.

The Jerry Ford Invitational in 1977 was not the only encounter I had with Mr. Hope.  In 1992 while playing golf in Palm Springs, California, I had the privilege to play a round of golf behind Mr. Hope for 18 holes, even though he was 89 years old, he played his game hitting the ball straight down the fairway for 150 yards give or take a few yards.  It was a treat just to play behind Mr. Hope.  

The USA is entering a time of unknowing, challenges are around each corner.  The USA voted for change in the presidential election, but I believe what USA needs is HOPE.  Hope for a better life, Hope for a brighter future, and Hope for more freedom and less government.  The change that is coming is not what the USA wants or needs, the USA needs HOPE.  

Ronald Reagan expressed this a long time ago in what has been coined "The Speech."  "The Speech"  was given on October 27, 1964 from his nationally televised speech, which he called "A Time for Choosing" but was later simply referred to as "The Speech," in support of candidate Barry Goldwater).

"If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what's at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation." 


"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

The USA is the last best HOPE of man on earth, and yes it looks as if we are trading our freedom for change of more government intervention in our lives.  But I have HOPE that the USA will find its way out of this morass and eventually learn it was HOPE we were looking for, not change.  The people of the USA must learn what Bob Hope so eloquently stated in one of his movies . . .

 

-LEX REX