Important Votes

Happy Centennial Ronald Reagan!

Of course, if you've been watching Fox News at all, you know that Dr. Coburn had been working on eliminating the ethanol subsidy. It just so happens that I'm rooming with girls from Iowa and South Dakota; and I'm also good friends with a guy from the Indiana office. It becomes really comical exchanging opinions on the importance of corn in gasoline when your Senators are voting against each other. Lots of interesting things happening right now and I feel like I'm in the busiest office of them all! It seems like the Senator is on a network every day to every other day so the phones are always ringing off the hook from all over the US -- Florida, NY, Wisconsin, California, you name it. I really admire his efforts, especially when no one else seems to be doing the hard part of taking negative publicity. But when you win an election with over 70% (even though it was just Jim Rogers), you must be doing something right, right?

Today I went to a Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday celebration. Speakers included his speech writer, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher; his Communications Director, Mari Will; his assistant on Political and Intergovernmental Affairs, Frank Donatelli; and his assistant for Domestic Affairs, Kenneith Cribb. Needless to say, it was an enlightening experience. For those of you who are liberals, sorry, but one of my favorite things in the world is sitting in front of ole' men talking about the good ole' days, before them liberals started takin' over. All jokes aside, I just don't think people are driven for the same reasons anymore. The speakers digressed to a lot of personal stories about him but they also just talked about his character and how that contributed to his decision-making and ultimately, his legacy.

Congressman Rohrabacher really got me thinking about a couple of things:

1) He said he was still part of the Reagan administration when he decided to run for Congress. He was broke and all he had were about a hundred pictures of him with Ronald Reagan to prove to his state that he was capable. And that won him the election. But after telling that story, he said, "I had so many friends that tried to talk me out of running because on paper, it seemed impossible. Don't ever let your best friends tell you what your proper place is because you could be the one that's meant to serve. Now, not everyone can win, but if you don't even try, you definitely won't succeed." It's interesting that he warned us that it's our best friends that will try to limit us. I never really thought about it, but I bet those are the people who could most easily sway my decisions.

2) This is a little PG-13 so sorry folks, but the second Congressman Rohrabacher quote was a little more feisty. "If everyone thinks you're a pain in the ass, but you're doing what you know is right, then go ahead and be a pain in the ass!" 

Wise words from the sprite but slightly deteriorated Reagan staff.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Ronald Reagan