Renouncing the Reagan Legacy

The Reagan Legacy is sadly not carried on through President Reagan's second son, Ronald Prescott Reagan. This was painfully obvious last night during Ron's speech at the Democratic National Convention. Although I didn't watch the entire speech, the portion that I caught was disheartening not only because of its content but because I believe it would have disappointed President Reagan to hear his son deliver such a speech.

The Dems were thrilled to have anyone with the last name Reagan speaking at their convention; it was almost like stealing the Reagan Legacy from the Republicans: a political coup. What the Dems don't realize is that the beliefs Reagan championed - economic freedom, sanctity of life, and conviction-driven foreign policy- are larger than any political party. And if the Democratic Party embraced these beliefs, they would be a party worthy of leading this country. However, merely obtaining a recognizable conservative name, like Reagan, does not mean that the Dems have co-opted the values and beliefs associated with that name. Sadly, many times the apple does fall far from the tree. And last night Ron Reagan confirmed that truth.

Although President Reagan was unable to express his opinion about stem-cell research, we can extrapolate from his innumerable writings regarding the sanctity of life that he probably would not have agreed with this emerging science. Ron Reagan delivered an eloquent and impassioned plea for increased spending on stem-cell research that from an emotional standpoint is quite convincing. However, such demagoguery is the very type of speech that our Founding Fathers warned us would lead to decisions based upon political expediency instead of decisions based upon the lasting principles of morality and truth.

It would be easy to counter Ron Reagan's speech point-by-point, but fundamentally this debate is based upon the Brave New World concept of man as a slave to science instead of vice versa.  The only feeling I was left with after watching the speech was that we have become a pagan society, cannibalizing our unborn. Can a culture survive when instead of the elderly sacrificing for the unborn, the unborn must be sacrificed for the elderly? We have front-row seats for the answer to that question...