For the Love of America

Andy Snyder|June 21, 2022

Few presidents loved America more than the orange-haired fella who jumped from the TV screen to the White House.

He was called a racist.

They picked apart his relationships and his divorce.

They called him dumb and ignorant of how Washington really worked.

But his work ethic – and his undying love of America – is sorely missing today.

It’s a fact that Donald Trump wasn’t the first orange-haired fella in the White House. According to Gerald Ford, it was Ronald Reagan whose Hollywood hair was “prematurely orange.”

Reagan did something that few others have accomplished in the 40 years since his first inauguration.

He created a national yearning for bipartisan cooperation.

And despite his many enemies, he got it.

The Sin of Love

As our great nation faces a painful, politically created recession and what just may be one of the most chaotic times in its history, it’s vital we understand how – or more importantly, why – he and his detractors came together.

In the fewest of words, they did it “for the love of America.”

Reagan was one of the nation’s greatest patriots. His son often talks about how he would tool around with his dad on their ranch while his deep-voiced father sang the anthems of each branch of the military.

Up a dirt road singing the staccato tune of the Marines… From the Halls of Montezuma… to the shores of Tripoli…

Feeding the steers with the fast-paced song of the Air Force… Off we go into the wild blue yonder…

And headed for home with the energizing tune sung by so many duty-filled sailors… Anchors away, my boys, anchors away…

But Reagan wasn’t alone in his love for America, what she stood for and, most importantly, what she could do for the world.

Tip O’Neill, the Democratic speaker of the house and Reagan’s fiercest political check, was also quite a patriot.

Growing up in Boston, he said he “felt a firsthand connection to the brave men and women who fought the American Revolution.”

Famously, during a fight with his own party about working with their political enemies, a colleague hit O’Neill with heated words.

“You’re supposed to be a Democrat!” his fellow caucus member said.

“I am a Democrat,” O’Neill roared backed, “but also, I am a PATRIOT!”

Change

Dear friend, we don’t have to tell you such words are rare today.

But Reagan warned us of all of this.

Here are some powerful words from his final presidential speech in 1989…

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?

Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions.

If you didn’t get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school.

And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special.

Powerful words, those are… “absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions.”

My word, how things have changed.

The president outlined the symptoms and hinted at the cure…

But now, we’re about to enter the ’90s, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren’t sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style.

We’ve got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection.

Indeed, how things have changed.

Love Above All

If your wealth has declined… if your fate feels less secure… if you’re worried about where things will head next… don’t blame the latest orange-haired fella. Don’t blame the current guy in office, either.

Instead, show undying love for the country… for the freedom it stands for… and for its utter reliance on good people doing good things.

We mustn’t let these powerful traits fall into the history books as proof of a failed experiment.

We must not!

Our nation is too busy keeping political scores.

We spend more time counting votes than measuring progress.

Our politicians do only what’s good for their bases… not what’s good for the globally lonely idea behind it all.

It shows.

Prices are soaring. Markets are plunging. And hate is off the charts.

Almost all of it brought on because so many have put the love of power before the love of country.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

A bipartisan effort shouldn’t be shunned. No. It’s patriotism at its best.

It shows a true love of country.