Cats Cradle,
While I agree with a fair bit of what you wrote I disagree on the Reagan optimism thing.
Most of us are cynics, pessimists, fearful of change, fearful of being cheated....maybe a little bit of "Show Me"
thats in us. So when we meet or are exposed to a Reagan, an Obama...someone simply wired differently....its unbleievably refreshing to me.
I would come off as a phony and a hypocrite if I tried to sell the optimism thing. I yearn for it.....but at heart I struggle in accepting it in most people. One of those areas where I separate what is, from what could be.
But I have met people before.....who this is hardwired into who they are. The Bible speaks of "fruits of the spirit". And when you meet people who really have it....you simply know it, recognize it. People are drawn to them for the right reasons.
So I believe it to be with RR. He saw a different America than we did....he saw the America that our founders envisioned. He saw an America that appealed to the finest instincts of man.
Now, the America of racism and hypocrisy and everything else is still there....just as with ourselves, most of us are in a daily battle between who we are and who we want to be.
Reagan accepted that Amercia, but he refused to be defined by it. Limited by it. And God bless him....we need him today more than ever.
