Brain-Jockey

Reagan Bytes: A Christmas Message and A Note About Government Betrayal

Written by Audrie Zettick on December 23, 2008

During his first Christmas season in office, President Ronald Reagan gave an address to the nation, citing the struggles in Poland.  Decades have passed, but we have much to learn from his speech, where he spoke of a government betraying its people.

 

On December 13, 1981 the totalitarian Polish government responded with brutality to the rising “Solidarity” movement led by Lech Walesa.  Threatened by the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain, about 20 military officials led the cracked down by declaring martial law (Stan wojenny, or “state of war”) purportedly in the defense of socialism.  

 

By the time of Reagan’s address on December 23, the Polish leadership had responded to the peaceful demonstrations of the labor union; they deployed the military, arrested most of the labor union’s leadership, closed schools and universities, and shut down phone lines.  In an “in-your-face” test of wills, factories were placed under military management with a mandated 6-day work week–the military government’s way of saying: take that and see if you can do anything about it!    

 

  (Learn more here and here and below, in a video (in Polish, but you’ll get the idea).

 

 

 

Many say that this confrontation was the beginning of the end of the Cold War.  Truly, it steeled the strength and determination that Reagan would show as he took on socialism and communism, eventually leading to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

 

That Christmas season, the former Polish Ambassador (who had asked for asylum in the U.S.) told Reagan that his countrymen were placing small candles in the windows of their homes, to show that freedom still burned in their hearts.  He asked Reagan to light a candle in the White House to show solidarity with the Polish people.  Let Reagan’s response below be a reminder of the freedom we yet cherish here in the U.S.   

 

“….an evil influence threatened that the lights were going out all over the world. Let the light of millions of candles in American homes give notice that the light of freedom is not going to be extinguished. We are blessed with a freedom and abundance denied to so many. Let those candles remind us that these blessings bring with them a solid obligation, an obligation to the God who guides us, an obligation to the heritage of liberty and dignity handed down to us by our forefathers and an obligation to the children of the world, whose future will be shaped by the way we live our lives today.”

 

President Ronald Reagan, December 23, 1981

Reagan Bytes: A Timely Look At A “Different Course”

Written by Audrie Zettick on December 15, 2008

Sometimes we don’t realize the good fortune we have to be living in the middle of historic events.  My early career was one of those times.

 

I was fortunate enough to work in the Reagan Administration for two stints.   The first was in the office of the Secretary of Transportation–initially as a staff assistant to Drew Lewis, then as a congressional liaison specialist for Elizabeth Dole.   My last position was at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the end of Reagan’s second term  (my title was nearly as big as the bureaucracy!).

 

I felt the anger and frustration of the air traffic controller’s strike, the anguish of the attempted presidential assassination, the wonder of a Gorbachev visit to the White House and fear the day of the concurrent Air Florida and D.C. metro crashes. I verbally tussled with bureaucrats who wanted to add abortion as the recommended policy for pregnant women with AIDS and worked closely with career government employees who “got it” as we worked to eliminate overlapping and unneeded programs and government bloat. 

 

Being a bit of an historical pack rat, I have some memorabilia from those days.  I have the small U.S. and Soviet flags I waved (yes, really) when I attend a cheer session for President Reagan and Soviet President Micheal Gorbachev on the White House lawn. 

 

I recently stumbled upon two gems: a large “photo essay” publication produced by the RNC for the first Reagan Administration Executive Forum (rally) I attended marking the First Anniversary of his inauguration and a program from the 2nd forum.  I was able to get Reagan to sign it (no autopen!) several years later, after a speech he gave at the Shrine of Czestochowa in Pennsylvania. 

 

The photo essay contains quotes and the Administration’s view of accomplishments.  With the perspective of a couple of decades–and with the prospect of Barack Obama in office–I think it’s timely to look at what was said and accomplished.  I will continue writing Reagan Bytes through at least the first year of the Obama administration.

 

Page one of the Reagan Photo essay contains this quote:   

 

“It’s time to recognize that we’ve come to a turning point.  We’re threatened with an economic calamity of tremendous proportions, and the old business-as-usual treatment can’t save us.  Together, we must chart a different course.”

 

Ronald Reagan, February 5, 1981

 

The quote seems strangely appropriate for today.  Yet, the “different course” we seem to be on portends to lead us to more Jimmy Carter- or New Deal-style policies, which led exactly to the challenges faced by the Reagan Administration.  George Bernard Shaw once said that “we learn from history that we learn nothing from history.” 

 

Guess I’ve been around the block enough to now know what that means.