Author: Wyatt Corbin

It has been nearly forty years since America had been at its peak of optimism, technological advances, and self-confidence. 

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter was defeated by the witty, comedic California Governor fresh off of the high-life in Hollywood named Ronald Reagan. The Carter-Reagan beatdown was one of the worst in American politics history, especially for an incumbent president in Carter. From that day, Reagan hit the ground running and instituted conservative policies the Republicans had been longing for since the days of Eisenhower. By 1984, President Reagan had turned the country around – and the American people knew it. Republicans had cut through the Carter flub and the politics of limitation while America had embraced Reagan’s belief for a better future. Psychologically, we had shifted from the fear of technology and desperate catastrophism to the positive belief that we could build a better future for generations to come. 

Reagan’s strong national policy came under fire multiple times throughout his eight year tenure by the liberal media. Most notably, in 1983 when President Reagan gave a nationwide speech about his aspirations for a stronger military and defense budget to defeat the “evil empire”, as in the USSR. Today, a modernized version of the same system is effectively defending Israel from missile attacks. 

The optimism carried over into foreign policy. Oftentimes when President Reagan was asked about the long conflict with the Soviet Empire, simply put, stated: “Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: we win, they lose.” On every economic, technological, and psychological front, Reagan was crowding the Soviets into a slow, painful collapse. The U.S.S.R. dissolved eleven years after Reagan was sworn in for his first term. Americans were sufficiently confident about the future. Reagan’s slogan for 1984 was “Morning in America”, and Americans believed it. 

President Reagan’s achievements were amazing. But we have wandered off the path of optimism and success. We must relearn what made Reagan successful and what made America the “shining city on the hill.” Tragically, a large part of the Republican Party today has no understanding of Reagan’s optimism, idealism, and passionate belief in the future. His willingness to work for visionary goals seemed unrealistic to traditional politicians, but yet it was the key to his success. 

If we come together and determine what we must do now to create a better future, we can return to that “morning in America.”