The outpouring of love and respect we saw at the passing of Ronald Reagan was no surprise to me. There were a couple of things that did surprise me though.
One was how extensive the feelings were, how large the crowds were of people wanting to pay their respects and say goodbye. I knew that a lot of people liked him but was really surprised at how deep those feelings went.
The other was how disrespectful some on the political left have been in regard to his passing and obviously jealous they were of the degree of coverage given by the media. The denegrating comments made by some in the media were unquestionably way out of line and uncalled for. What was called for was nothing more than simple respect, and in some cases what we saw was anything but that.
Why did people love Ronald Reagan. Because, perhaps more so than any other President since our Founding Fathers, he was a populist.
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"POPULIST"
DICTIONARY:
n: A supporter of the rights and power of the people.
THESAURUS:
Function: adjective - Definition: representative - Synonyms: autonomous, bourgeois, common, communal, constitutional, egalitarian, equal, free, friendly, individualistic, informal, just, laissez-faire, libertarian, orderly, popular, populist, self-governing, self-ruling - Antonyms: authoritarian, autocratic, communistic, despotic, dictatorial, intolerant, totalitarian
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Note that Ronald Reagan met the definition of being a populist. He was first and foremost a President that was concerned for the rights and welfare of the people...... all the people...... not just specific groups as is the case with liberals these days.
Note also the antonyms for the word "populist." Those are precisely the words that describe the liberal Democrat (not Democratic) Party these days. Whenever a political action is taken on behalf of a specific group it, by definition and implementation, excludes all those not in the group to be benefited and is done at the expense the financial well being and personal freedoms of those that were excluded. The liberal philosophy is by definition exclusionary....... leaving out all those they deem unworthy of their concern.
Ronald Reagan was a populist and that's why people loved him. It's as simple as that.