Josh Mead: President Reagan's legacy is as important as ever today - which would have been his 100th birthday

Josh Mead is an American who is currently interning with the TaxPayers’ Alliance. He graduated from the University of Exeter with an MA in International Affairs.

To try and write about the 40th President of the United States is a truly daunting and overwhelming task, but to do it on his 100th birthday and succinctly is even more intimidating.  Reagan’s presidency is arguably one of the most paramount of the 20th century, and as I sat to write this piece, my thoughts drew to three principles that defined both Reagan the President and Reagan the man: his sense of virtue, his sense of compassion and his sense of perception.  Reagan maintained these three principles which changed the world forever.

First, President Reagan was a man who had an incredible amount of virtue. There is no doubt that he truly saw the world in terms of good vs. evil. He was famously noted for his condemnation of the evil empire and pursuing ways that would place it on the “ash heaps of history.”  On March 3, 1983 whilst delivering a speech in Florida, President Reagan said:

“To ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding is to remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.”

Reagan was deeply discouraged and worried about an aggressive Soviet Union that loyally believed in the words of Lenin, who said “wouldn’t matter if three quarters of the human race perished; the important thing is that one quarter be communist.” Whilst many prophesied an uneasy bi-polar world on the brink of nuclear war, President Reagan pursued a policy that would dismantle a totalitarian regime and build a lasting democracy.  In the book Reagan, In His Own Hand, he wrote “that a dictatorship was based on fear, but a democracy was built on virtue and when that is dissolved democracy ceases to exist.” 

Not only did Reagan’s virtue inspire the free world during his administration, but it left a lasting mark on future policy makers. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has often attributed President Reagan’s “moral vision for America and the world” as a reason why she joined the Republican Party and pursued similar foreign policy goals.

Josh Mead: So President Obama thinks France is America's greatest ally? As an American, I hope this ludicrous suggestion won't harm transatlantic relations

Josh Mead is an American who is currently interning with the TaxPayers’ Alliance. He graduated from the University of Exeter with an MA in International Affairs.

The Daily Mail yesterday reported how President Obama stated his belief that France is the greatest ally to the United States, declaring:

“We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people.”

Did you notice something missing from that statement, perhaps the words “United Kingdom”?

This isn’t the first time that this President has snubbed the UK.  We don’t have to go that far back. Day 47 of the Obama Presidency shows this President’s complete lack of understanding of how you treat proper allies when Gordon Brown came to the U.S.

He was denied a joint press conference with President and a formal dinner. Also, Gordon Brown presented Obama gifts that had symbolic and special meaning including a penholder, made from the wood of a warship which helped to stop the slave trade.  Obama’s gift to Brown? Those infamous 25 DVDS, which I hope worked on UK DVD players.

Whilst that is just a minor example, the real issue here is utter hypocrisy and complete lack of respect for the UK. In February 2009 Secretary of State Clinton fervently issued her belief in the Special Relationship by saying "whoever is in the White House, whichever party in our country, this relationship really stands the test of time and I look forward to working with the foreign secretary."