I was raised in a home of democrats who thought Ronald Reagan was a “B actor” and an “idiot”.  It was a great adventure and learning experience visiting the Ronald Reagan Library.  The audio tour was done by Ronald Reagan himself (his voice).  It was very interesting.  The library is on top of a hill side over looking Simi Valley.  It is a beautiful ranch style library/building.  A few observations:

• Like most of us Reagan’s views were formed by his family of origin.  His mom and dad routinely donated their time and resources to those in need, and Reagan worked 7 days a week, 12 hours per day at his first job as a teenager.  He was influenced by his mom’s belief in God, God has a plan for us that we must trust in even if life gets hard, hard work is key to success, and help others because we are all in this together
• Reagan’s distrust of big government seemed to stem from his fear and hatred of tyranny and communism (the ultimate form of big government).  Juxtaposed to this distrust was Reagan’s firm belief that government was necessary.  During the air traffic control strike, he told the air traffic controllers that as government employees their jobs were essential to the safety and security of the U.S. and therefore if they did not return to work in 48 hours they would be fired.
• Reaganomics (my understanding) was less taxes (Reagan was a firm believer in taxes but taxes to pay for services at the community level)…and by less taxes it stimulated companies and individuals to create more jobs, more wealth etc….
• You can tell a lot about someone when they are under stress, and when Reagan was shot (very seriously), he was calm and humorous.  He told the surgeon, “I hope you are a republican.”  The surgeon replied, “Mr. President today we are all republicans.” (a GREAT read is the JAMA article about his injuries and their treatment)
• I am always a fan of anyone who has a deep and abiding relationship with his wife, and he clearly had that.  He adored his wife, Nancy.
• Speech after speech he made it clear that he wanted peace but he believed that peace could only be accomplished by a strong military–not to be used but to prevent war.  He turned out to be right and was successful in helping to eliminate communism.

• Reagan while being interviewed by Jimmy Stuart, no less, about his experiences on Air Force One before he was president.  He tells the story of when he flew in Air Force One to do some diplomacy for a president before him.  It was during the oil embargo and they were running low on fuel and needed to land in a country that said they wouldn’t refuel a U.S. plane.  His advisors at the time told him that this country would refuel their plane if they wouldn’t fly the U.S. flag when they landed.  Reagan said, “We will find somewhere else to refuel.”  The country reconsidered and allowed them to refuel and Reagan flew the U.S. flag when they landed.
• When Reagan cut federal taxes as president, the federal government collected 40% MORE money from tax payers! It seems counterintuitive, but it turns out that if you lower taxes, people hire more people and those people all pay taxes; therefore lowering taxes/less taxes=MORE not less money for the government. Who knew?