March 25, 2012 The Free Wood Post
By Sarah Wood
Just last week, a new journal written by former President Ronald Reagan was revealed and released to the public through the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA. Inside the journal was a passage many were not expecting to find. It seems the former president had an incredible amount of doubt surrounding his switch from Democrat to Republican in 1962. He felt at the time that his switch was imperative because his views were becoming more and more in line with that of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, but he still felt very strongly towards Franklin D. Roosevelt and the need for a collective good.
His journal revealed this passage from an entry dated 8/25/2002:
"Although at the time I felt I could more effectively get my ideas of a collective philosophy accomplished as a Republican more so than a Democrat, I realize now that the Republican Party was indeed the party of purely individual rights, not the Democrats. When I worked as the president of the Screen Actors Guild I understood the need for people to stick together for the greater good to get their goals accomplished. I admired other great presidents of the past such as Franklin Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower who knew that in order for the nation to thrive, we must all thrive. I am also saddened that the Republican party of today thinks I wanted God in the White House and to rule the nation. That is not true at all, after I was nearly assassinated I wanted God more in my own personal life. I acknowledged that I was to be here for a reason and serve him and my nation together, but they always stayed separate in my mind just as in the Constitution. The Republican party today merely just uses God as a means to get votes, and I don’t believe Jesus would want to be used as a marketing tool. I regret my decision to become Republican and if I had to do it all over again I would have remained in the Democratic party and ran on their ticket. They seem to instill the core values I believe in, such as a collective philosophy. I thought for a while the Democrats left me, because we used to agree on so much, it turns out that I did indeed leave them, and I would do anything to take it all back. Now as I sit here as an old man, I can only imagine, “what if…”
This new revelation is not being accepted with open arms by the Republican Party. Many are saddened to find out how their former beloved “ultra-conservative” president truly felt in his last years on earth. He also revealed in his journal that he voted for Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential Election. He said, “I just can’t bring myself to vote for that kid, I knew what he was like when I had his dad as my vice president, and I couldn’t allow for a man like that to lead the nation.”
The Reagan Library says that it has discovered several other texts by the former president, but with respect to his family and legacy, will hold them under lock and key.
No comments:
Post a Comment