What can I say, this has been a magnificant day to be an American.

God Bless Ronald Reagan. Rest in peace.

God bless the gipper

Cheers,

Andr�

As the Minister told the world tonight, God has now said to Ronald Reagan "Well done my good and faithful servant."

Amen, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Reagan made us all proud to be Americans when he came into office. And tonight after viewing his funeral, he has once more reminded me how blessed and proud I am to be an American.



How many men can truly say the world is a better place because they lived?

Best boss this old soldier ever had. We trusted him because it never was about him. It was about this blessed country.
JCN

What a wonderful ceremony, I feel privledged to have seen it. He is free to smile that beautiful smile again.

CFA

Here is a "Thumbs Up" to President Reagan!

There was a lot of tradition out there today, something we must cling to with desperation, with it goes our values..

I worry that the new generation doesn't realize the importance of tradition, that is the catalist that makes America great. It is terribly important.

God Bless America, one nation under God. that is traditional and is what our forefthers based the constitution upon...

He was a good man, with the same moral values and ideals that George Bush has, but he was a little more elequent in speach but they both speak from the heart, and believed that all men should be free...

Ray,

I used to worry about the new generation, but all my kids happen to wear uniforms now, and when I talk to them and their friends I realize that the "long gray line" that MacArthur talked about still goes on. There aren't a lot of warriors and good leaders in any generation, but it seems like there are always a few (like President Reagan) that figure out a way to save the ass of the rest. I don't know if he was better than we deserved, but I'm so glad that he was here for us.

JCN

The service in California tonight really moved me. Truly beautiful and a tribute not only to Ronald Reagan but to the spirit of this country.

John

It's refreshing when someone in government says what he means and means what he says and that was President Reagan. I don't believe he had an unkind word (or thought) for anyone he dealt with and the one thing he said that I will always remember is "trust...but verify". It really told the Russians the kind of man with whom they had to deal.

Too many times those who think they are smart are merely clever....I'm thankful for men like Eisenhauer, Regan and the current President Bush and let me add Harry Truman to the bunch just so you don't think I have something against Democrats.

I'm proud to have voted for Ronald Reagan, four times. Twice for Governor of California, and twice for President of the United States.

Here's a comparison of "legacy lines" between a man of class and dignity, President Reagan, and a man who was also President, but just common white trash, Clinton.

Reagan: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this (Berlin) wall!

Clinton: "I did not have sex with that woman. Monica Lewinsky."

L.W.

I watched Nancy closely throughout all of this week's ceremony and was amazed at her strength and composure thru it all.



But when every one sat down for the speeches or eulogies, it was clear by her eyes how they drifted back to her husband.....and her thoughts were on him, reliving 1,000 different moments of their lives together.



She played her role as a former First Lady magnificantly from start to finish. And when it was all over and she walked up to the casket with the flag for the last time my heart broke for her as she realized it was over. She REALLY WAS saying good-by...and she didn't have to be strong any longer.

.





They were a CLASS ACT from start to finish and I don't suspect any of us will live to see their equal.



God bless Nancy Reagan and family as well.

I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the funeral procession front row on Wednesday and was moved that so many people came out to pay their respects. President Reagan was the genuine article in an age of pretenders.

A powerful and moving ceremony for MY president. He did so many great things for America and the world. He is missed and loved by all.

It's about time the oft-misplaced term "American Royalty" was bestowed upon the deserving.

JCN - I can only hope there are enough of them!

DB - Harry - YES

God bless Ronald Reagan, the U.S.A and all he stood for. I'm proud to have voted for him in both elections.

We have watched much of the ceremonies taped from CSpan and have more to see. I am moved with emotion by the shear majesty of the man.



Ronald Reagan was about as perfect as a mortal can be. I really feel that he was the greatest person to walk the face of this earth in the last century.



One can see how good Reagan was by having to watch others attempt to do similar tasks.



http://www.ronaldreaganmemorial.com/a_tribute_associatedpress.asp

Some posts above express worry about the next generation. I have the privilege to know a dozen or so North Dakota National Guard men and women from my small community called to serve in Iraq. Several of the women played basketball with my step-daughter. Several of the men played basket ball and football and won a state championship in football. I watched average woman athletes respond to coaching and discipline and then make the trip to the state championship tournament several times during their basketball careers. Today, none of them are old enough to drink in a bar, but they are war veterans with combat infantry badges. My son-in-law�s nephew won a silver star for machine gunning attackers during an ambush in which a buddy died. He�s not old enough to go in a bar and have a drink, but he�s a genuine hero, and a humble hero at that. His Hummer driver turned around and headed back into an ambush they had safely passed. The kid opened fire on the ambushers with M-60 taking out a bunch of them. They rescued their buddies under fire, recovered the dead, cleared the ambush and then returned to camp. A few others received decorations for bravery above and beyond in the action. During a family get together to celebrate a sixth birthday, this young combat veteran shrugged off congratulations from family and friend alike. It was a day�s work, albeit a sad day�s work.

The next generation doesn�t understand tradition? Bravery, modesty and a willingness to go over there and do it again is in the best tradition of military service. We all hold different traditions dear. The young men and women I saw go off to war upheld the finest traditions of our military; dedication to duty, country and their fellow soldiers. Before this bunch went over, I might have agreed with the reservations expressed above. Now that they are back with a track record, I�ve changed my mind. The soldiers we sent to fight this war, regular and reserve, are as good as any this nation has ever fielded, perhaps a bit better.

Gentlemen, some very moving posts indeed. All I can say is that in my 24 years of naval service were because that man inspired me. I'll never forget that as a young Lt, on board the USS America (CV-66) in 1986, President Reagan told Khadaffi in front of the whole world "Go ahead, make my day!" You could hear that whole ship, all 5500 men, roar! soon thereafter, we obliged our Commander in Chief with some landscaping and remodeling of a few landmarks in Lybia

It was a great day yesterday, the nation NEEDED that although I'm afraid Ray is right, tradition is giving way to political correctness in the military, thanks to the previous occupant of the White House. Ronald Reagan, God bless him. jorge

HI,

He was the first president I vote for and the best,Kev

I will also say God Bless Mr. Reagan. However, I believe that the sort of pomp and circumstances that surrounded his "state" funeral were never envisioned by the founders of our great land. All of those ceremonies tend to make the president more like a monarch than a public servant. I certainly hope that taxpayer money was not spent on that funeral.



Blue

BLUE, yes, taxpayers' money was used to pay for former President Reagan's State funeral. But, that is the way it is for ANY deceased President, or former President of the United States.



As for all the "pomp & circumstance," it should be understood that the pageantry, the regimen, the protocol, the military tradition for a "fallen" Commander in Chief, is controlled by the military. These traditions and protocol have been in place for many, many years.



In the main, the spouse of the "fallen" Commander in Chief, will select the minister/priest/rabbi, etc., to preach the funeral ceremony, and she will select songs and hymns to be sung, etc. She will also select the people who give a eulogy, i.e., those we saw yesterday in the Nat'l. Cathedral. But the various military bands, the firing of the cannons, the slow, somber, steady movements and pace of the pallbearers, the procession through the streets, and all concerned, are the plans of the U.S. Military, following the traditions established years ago.



Obviously, some funerals might be more elaborate to a degree, than others, but not much, as the military traditions ALWAYS hold.



These same ceremonies will be held when former Presidents Ford, Carter, Bush the Elder, Clinton, and all future Presidents, die.



That's the way it is, in our Nation's Capitol.



FWIW. L.W.

God Bless Ronald Reagan. God bless this nation he served so well.

As long as there good men to teach their sons and daughters and to bestow upon them the values and heritages we cherish, then good men like Ronald Reagan and those soldiers who have served and and those who have died for our coutry will always be among us. Lest we forget!

SCW



I would hope that you would speak for yourself and not for others.



I have read just about everything that Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison every wrote, and I stand by what I said, especially based on the writings of Mr. Jefferson.



I have served my country honorably and voluntarily (U. S. Navy) and my post was not intended as a put down to the United States.



Tradition - the notion that what lasts for generations must be valid. However, many traditions merely repeat what is false. And what is false (in my opinion) is that any person in a democracy is more important than any other person.



A president, a governor, a police chief, a judge, a librarian, all are servants of the true governors of this country. The PEOPLE. Thus, no public servant (in my opinion) is more important than any other person in this country. It is my vision of government, and I rather suspect that in many respects Mr. Reagan would have agreed with me 100 percent.



Blue

What we saw in the last week is what this counrty needed to take our minds off other things it was a sight to see. The last state funeral was over 30 years ago so the youth of today including myself have never seen anything like it and it made me proud to be an American soldier I was already proud but it made me even prouder to be defending this great country.

blue, you may be correct in what you said, but what is being shown in the case of Ronald Reagan is much more an example of respect given, not respect taken or demanded. I think there is a big difference there. Respect given, is not worship or imputation of royalty, but is in fact respect from human to human.

I'm sure that examples can be found, both extremes. As a whole, I feel it is respect given. The rituals used by the government and the military are rightly paid for by government, for all presidents. The respect shown Reagan come from the heart, and could not be bought by money.

8mm

I respect both you and your opinion. You because unlike many others on this forum, you take a stance agaisnt another stance with respect to the other poster.

Obviously, we disagree. To do so in public forum, without fear of government reprocussion is what makes this country great rather that who has been hired by the people to run their government.

Yes, Mr. Reagan was a very fine person. But I believe that at the time he was president there were probably thousands of other capable people in this country who could have and would have provided the same good leadership, just as I believe that in any given time there are thousands of other people who would provide the same good service in the Supreme Court or in the Senate or the House of Representatives.

The real backbone of this and any other democracy is the People who grant the power to a smaller bunch of people to run the government for them.

Blue

Of COURSE tax money was spent. We have buried ALL of our commaders In Chief in similar fashion, particularly after Lincoln. In my view the nation NEEDS the pomp and circumstance, that is some of the best spent tax money I've seen spent in a while.BTW, THAK GOD we're not a democracy, but a republic. jorge

Jorge



With all due respect, again, you are talking about tradition. Tradition doesn't make things true or correct.



In the sense that we have a form of government in which the soverign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens through a system of representation, we have a democracy. A republic is thought more to be a form of government in which the administration of affairs is open to all the citizens, and I do not believe that to really be true, although we would all like to think that is true. If I were to walk in to my home state legislature tommorow and demand to sponsor a bill, I would be told to contact my representative, whereas in Ancient Greece all free men could come to the chamber and state their case.



Blue

Once in a while, a country gets a leader that its "needs".

With the UK, you might cite Churchill or Thatcher, with America I would undoubtly say that Ronald Reagan was such a leader.

He had a strong sense of good verses evil and the courage to follow what he believed was the correct path no matter what the difficulty's.

Some have noted that not all his domestic policies were popular, but sometimes taking medicine is not popular but needs to be done. In death, even as in his life, he has lifted the spirts of America and stirred a national pride.

I am not an American, but I recognise the quality's of Reagan both as a man and as the Presendent of the USA, and I am glad he valued the Special Relationship between our two countries.

I watched part of the funeral service from over here and from what I saw, this was America's way of paying tribute and honouring a man who did so much for his country.

I would not have expected anything less.

God Rest Mr Reagan, and my thoughts are with his family and close friends at this time.

Pete - We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge that the most beautiful and moving eulogy for President Reagan was delivered by your former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. While Chirac couldn't be bothered to even attend, Thatcher came against medical advice, determined to be there for both the funeral AND the services across the country in California even if it killed her.

Americans deeply admired and respected her when she was Prime Minister...and she has risen even higher in our esteem. I hope we have a president in office who will show her likewise respect and honor when she passes on.

God bless Margaret Thatcher.

As the man who brought the Iron Curtain down and made the whole world a much safer place, Ronald Reagan is sure to go down in history as a great leader, and, a great President of the country he served. The achievement of bringing the Eastern Communist Bloc down without as much as firing a shot was at least as great an achievement as the victory over the Nazis and the Japanese some forty years earlier - I come from a country that gained immeasurably from the end of Communism and President Reagan's vision made a positive difference to the lives of people across more of the world than any other leader's did in this single sense.

God Bless him.

The "achievement" as you put it, was the fact that both sides determined that a nuclear war would annihilate the entire earth, coupled with the fact that the Soviet Union's economy was faltering and they just could not afford to keep up their intense military spending.

Yes, Mr, Reagan was the President at the time, and the spokesman for the American People. But please don't give him the credit for ending the cold war because it just isn't true.

Ah, it comes out! the Reagan bashers. Saying that Reagan had little to do with the demise of the Soviet Union and ultimate Victory in the Cold War ranks up there with the all-time ignorant sayings posted on this forum or " I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." In the early 1980s after that moron Crter had all but decimated the military, the Soviet Union was far ahead of us in many areas of weaponry. Only thanks to Reagan;s tenacity and his keen insight into the machinations of the Soviet Command economy ( kind of what the democrats want us to have now), he knew that they could not compete with our free enterprise and technological prowess. The Soviets were FAR from implosion in 1980 and it took Reagan and other world leaders like Maggie Thatcher to realize they were vulnerable.



For your edification Blue, a pure democracy can lead to nothing but problems and eventual anarchy. For one how could you possibly get everyone to agree all of the time and secondly, if the MAJORITY were to win every time, the folks in the minority ( like gun owners in the uS for example, there are only about 50 million of us) would be at the mercy of the anti-gun majority. Hence, the founding fathers created a representative republic BASED on democratic principles and NOT a pure democracy, which BTW is why Athens failed.



No problem buddy, I'll be here every time you need a history, civics or firearm lesson. jorge

Jorge

Again, with all due respect, I am not disagreeing with you. What we have is an "alleged" representative government and both the words Democracy and republic mean representation (look it up in the Websters if you don't believe me), although down through history a true republic was thought to be a government in which all people participated.

Moreover, I do not disagree that Mr. Reagan was tenacious with regard to our country's views on the Soviet Union, but as you have said, it was the fact that the Soviet Union could not keep up financially that finally ended the cold war. The People of the Soviet union were starving becasue they had spent most of their money on weapons programs.

As far as what form of government is best, or why Athens failed, the answer is probably much more complex than we could ever discuss here. Suffice it to say, all government is artificial and ultimately relies on physical force by one or more groups of people over one or more other groups of people. When those forces get out of kilter something usually gives and history gets changed.

Finally, this isn't intended to be a Reagan bash. Nor do I call ex presidents "morons". Rather, my intention is to have rigorous discussion without attacking the other person personally.

AS for firearms lessons, I think I have been dealing with small arms for as long or longer than you have and probably don't need any lessons. You might be better able to exlain to me how the guns or missles work on an F-4 Phantom or an F-14 Tomcat, but you aren't going to teach me anything about a winchester or a ruger, both of which you seem to have had so much trouble with.

Blue