Reagan Shot Twenty Five Years Ago Today

One of the happiest moments of my life was turning 18 in time to vote for Ronald Reagan against the incompetent Jimmy Carter. He was my hero then, and he remains a hero today--the President against whom all others are judged, and to whom few measure up.

I vividly remember walking down the stairs toward the college bookstore "Liberty Square" when someone dashed by and said that the President had been shot. As quickly as I could, I tuned my radio to WBBM in Chicago and listened to the running CBS news reports (there weren't any blogs back then!) where it quickly became apparent that they didn't know much more than we did...which is always a bad sign.

Confusing rumors swirled, but the true seriousness of Reagan's condition wouldn't be revealed until years later. If he had died, would the Berlin Wall have come down? Would the military have the equipment and spirit to fight a war? Would freedom and democracy have turned back the then rising tide of Communism? I'm going to stop today and say a prayer of gratitude that Reagan lived...the lives of everyone in America, and arguably in the entire world, are better for it.

And for what it's worth, it was a horrible travesty for Hinckley to get off on insanity, and he should never get out.