A Great Anti-Totalitarian Dies

Ronald Reagan died today, fittingly enough, on the anniversary of D-Day. Whatever you may think of his politics, there is no question that he was a great American and an extraordinary president. Indeed, if we measure a president by the breadth and impact of his accomplishments, he must rank as one of the greatest presidents of the twentieth century. Avoid the liberal media hackjobs and go to National Review, which has a collection of insightful and touching articles, including president Bush's words from Normandy:

During the years of President Reagan, America laid to rest an era of
division and self-doubt. And because of his leadership, the world laid to rest an era of fear and tyranny. Now, in laying our leader to rest, we say thank you.

He always told us that for America, the best was yet to come. We comfort ourselves in the knowledge that this is true for him, too. His work is done, and now a shining city awaits him.

Sentimental eulogies aside, Reagan must be acknowledged as the twentieth centuries greatest proponent of human liberty and freedom. The anti-totalitarian par excellence. In an age when so much of the world's intellectual elite had decided that freedom was a lie and slavery blessed by the gods of history, Reagan had an instinctive understanding of liberty as an axiomatic value, and a revulsion before those who would do it violence. I believe historians will eventually fully acknowledge his role in the destruction of the Soviet Empire, and give him his rightful place as one of history's great leaders and liberators.