Reagan Bashers, Listen Up!!!

Natan Sharansky is a devout Jew and former Soviet dissident who was imprisoned by the KGB for several years. He has authored a brilliant book titled "The Case For Democracy" in which he, among other things, recalls his days as a Soviet political prisoner. He states very plainly the vital role that Ronald Reagan played in the collapse of communism. Believe me, I'd take Mr. Sharansky's word over that of any of today's elitist liberals who label Reagan as "overrated" and who yearn for our great country to slouch towards socialism, appease state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran, and allow the government to gain even more control over people's lives than it already has (i.e. mandatory community service, socialized medicine, spreading the wealth, etc., etc.):

"Today, it is fashionable to believe that the Soviet Union would have collapsed regardless of who sat in the White House or which policies were adopted in Washington. In this view, Reagan was simply lucky, a man in the right place at the right time who benefited from an inexorable historical process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Had Reagan chosen to cooperate with the Soviet regime rather than compete with it, accommodate it rather than confront it, the hundreds of millions of people he helped free would still be living under tyranny."

"Instead of lending a hand to a sick society, as advocates of detente were calling for, Reagan was determined to increase the pressure. The U.S. president instinctively understood . . . A fear society is no match for a free society that can unleash the creative genius of its own people."

"The U.S. president's faith in freedom's eventual triumph was matched by a deep distrust of totalitarian regimes. When he justified his decision to build an eleborate strategic missile defense system as a means of safeguarding America against the belligerent intentions of a non-Democratic regime, he was essentially telling the world . . . A country that does not respect the rights of its own citizens will not respect the rights of its neighbors."

*Don't we see some parallels in today's society? Specifically in Iran, as well as the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule (which appears thankfully to be close to its end)?

"Reagan's challlenge to the Soviets was as much moral as it was economic, which is why the impact of his policies on the lives of Soviet dissidents was no less dramatic. One day, my Soviet jailors gave me the privilege of reading the latest copy of Pravda (state-controlled newspaper in the former USSR). Splashed across the front page was a condemnation of Ronald Reagan for having the temerity to call the Soviet Union an `evil empire.' Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan's `provocation' quickly spread through the prison. The dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth- a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us . . . there had been much criticism of Reagan's decision to cast the struggle between the superpowers as a battle between good and evil. Well, Reagan was right, and his critics were wrong."

-Natan Sharansky
"The Case for Democracy"