2004-6-7 04:36:00
John C Wrote:
He (Reagan) passed away yesterday, but I haven't seen any posts about him on the Keys. He inspired me every time he spoke, and I feel like a member of the family has died.
JJ:
I wasn't going to write about Reagan since it would be somewhat off the standard fare of this list, but after reflecting on John's post I decided to say a few words.
I have also felt a kinship with Ronald Reagan. We were both Aquarians, born on the exact same date of Feb 6th. I have often wondered if there was some kind of synchronicity in this. If I am successful in advancing the teachings my name will be widely known as well as my birthday. It would be interesting to see how this date will be treated if two famous men bear it.
In the meantime I have a long way to go to yet achieve the notoriety necessary to complete my part in the great work and if I fall short I may look foolish for even mentioning this. Lend me your faith my friends and think of the success of the work when you say the Song that we can live long enough and have the strength to see the great Purpose prevail.
The whole of the work shall not always be the quiet posting and response to teachings while no major activity seems to be transpiring. This is the time of gestation. When the time of the birth of the work comes there will be so much more visible than the occasional kicking of the baby in the womb. Think of the difference in the visibility of the baby, as well as how much the baby is heard, before and after birth and then visualize the tremendous activity we shall have when the real work begins.
This time will come, I assure you. I do not myself know the day nor the hour of the birth, but I do know it is five and a half years closer than it was when we started this list. Maybe it will be the magical number of seven, or even nine, corresponding nine years to nine months.
Whatever the case I feel that the death of Ronald Reagan, a kindred soul, is a symbol of some type of marking point in the work that trickles down even to this list.
When the current generation watches the news of Reagan's death and observe all the glowing reports of his life they perhaps do not realize that during his presidency he was criticized and attacked much the same as George Bush is today.
His enemies loathed him and refused to give him credit for any accomplishment he made. The press often distorted his work, his words and his views. They always tried to portray him as a crazy man with a finger on the nuclear trigger that may go off on a whim. He was portrayed as a bigger threat than any tyrant in the Soviet Empire or other dictatorships.
He initiated the missile defense system with the purpose of defending the free world in case of nuclear attack and this benevolent intent was twisted into Star Wars with Reagan being the new Darth Vader.
He initiated the greatest tax reduction in history, one that makes Bush's tax reduction seem miserly. All his enemies warned of doom, that the nation would go broke and not be able to pay it's bills that even social security would go bankrupt. But Reagan told them to look beyond the obvious - that if people have more money to invest then the source of money will grow and we would gather an increase of tax revenue with fewer taxes.
This is exactly what happened. By the end of his presidency the tax revenues doubled even though the tax rate for many was cut in half. This was perplexing to those who had tunnel vision.
Like John Kennedy, Reagan taught that a tax cut must be across the board and benefit all taxpayers. Even though the rich get more benefit in dollars, he promised a "trickle down" effect where all would benefit.
His enemies took this phrase "trickle down" and really made hay of it repeating over and over how the trickle down wasn't trickling. No matter how good things are or how much recovery is going on there are always about a third of the people who are too negative to see or feel any good that is in the air and many who were perennial near-do-wells registered this criticism and thought to them themselves. "The critics are right. The money is certainly not trickling down to me."
Let me tell you this. Just before Reagan took office I lost my business and everything I owned. In 1978 I started a successful real estate business when the interest rate was 8%. Thanks to Carter's policies by the election the prime rate was up as high as 20% and getting financing for housing was well neigh impossible.
The last couple years of the Carter administration were miserable indeed. The speed limit was reduced from 70 MPH on the freeway to an irritating 55. Gas went from 30? a gallon to about 80? in a short time and stayed there. Not only was the gas rates high, but they stayed there and there were shortages. Long gas lines were common. Because I did a lot of traveling I put an extra gas tank on my car so I could go over 600 miles without refueling. This was almost my undoing for one day when I took the car to my mechanic he told me the extra tank was about ready to come off and if he hadn't discovered it I probably would have killed myself in a fiery explosion.
There seemed to be shortages in everything to do with energy and Carter ordered us to turn down our thermostats to so we would freeze in the winter and turn them up so we would burn in the summer. This decree was enforced in all government buildings and the general populace tried to voluntarily comply.
All the conspiracy people of the day were predicting gloom and doom. They said a major depression was coming followed by new money where ten dollars would be traded in for one dollar causing everyone to loose 90% of their assets giving the conspiracy power to take over the world.
This thinking filtered down to gloomy expectations among the rank and file. Almost everyone was expecting things to get worse and most I knew were expecting a depression greater than the one beginning in1929. It seemed that no one expected things to get better.
No one but Ronald Reagan. This was a politician who was the first positive voice in a long time who told us over and over, "The best years of America are ahead of us."
This was difficult for even me to believe at the time but there was something about his optimism that was infectious and after he was elected it seemed to take more energy to be negative than positive.
Against great criticism from his enemies he pushed the biggest tax cut in history through a tough Democratic congress and senate.
How did he do this when Bush has had more trouble pushing a much smaller one through a Republican majority?
How did he neutralize the criticism that has also dogged Bush so much?
He accomplished this because he had a talent for reaching the common man that Bush does not have. This is why he was called The Great Communicator" even by his enemies.
He presented the benefits of his tax cuts so clearly to the average person that many of them contacted Congress and demanded they support it. Many who loathed giving a tax cut felt forced to support Reagan's policies or lose their next election. Thus the Democrats voted with the Republicans on a tax cut, not because they wanted to but because the power of Reagan's communication with the average person forced them to.
The passing of the tax cut renewed faith in the economy almost overnight for those outside the Beltway. I felt a new faith myself. In addition right at the beginning of his presidency Iran freed the U.S. hostages, a situation that had depressed the Carter presidency for 444 days. This started the Reagan Presidency on a very positive note.
At the beginning of the Reagan administration I was in the worst financial situation of my life, but it was not long before the trickle down that Reagan's enemies ridiculed did trickle down and things began to pick up and at least I was able to keep body and soul together - and more than this I started believing with Reagan that things were going to get better.
Reagan started an economic expansion that has endured for 25 years. Now many think that the destruction of the Soviet Empire was Reagan's greatest accomplishment, but this could not have happened if we did not have the economic power to spend them into bankruptcy.
I solute Reagan whose optimism and positive outlook will endure beyond the grave. May his next life be glorious. I am honored to share the birth date of a real Aquarian who worked with the coming Aquarian energies of the mind, a fact unrecognized by many who feel they are the lights of the new age.
Newt Gingrich remembered a 1968 debate between Reagan and Bobby Kennedy, which ended with Kennedy beseeching his aides: no more.
"Clearly the people expected Reagan to get beaten badly. This was the anti-Vietnam War period. Kennedy represented the left. They were being interviewed by, I think it was four or eight foreign students. And Reagan was just amazing."
Gingrich continued:
"Bobby Kennedy did the debate from Paris. And afterwards he turned to [longtime Kennedy aide] Pierre Salinger and said, 'Never, ever again put me on television with him. It was impossible.'" Reported in Newsmax
Copyright 2004 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved