RONALD REAGAN, 1911-2004
In 1984, I did something I had never done before. On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, I walked into a booth, closed the curtain behind me, and voted. The election that year wasn't just any election, it was a Presidential election. The first person I cast a vote for wasn't just any politician, he was the man who inspired my personal political philosophy. That man, Ronald W. Reagan, died over the weekend at the age of ninety-three.

I was only sixteen during the 1980 election, two years too young to vote. In spite of my age, I was a Reagan supporter, through and through. I was first exposed to Ronald Reagan's politics during his campaign for the Republican nomination in 1976 (that's right, I was already a political/news junkie at twelve). I remember being disappointed when President Ford, an honorable but uninspiring man, won the nomination that year. I just knew he would lose to Jimmy Carter. I took no satisfaction in being right about that.

In 1980, Reagan finally got his chance to run in the general election. He ran as a different kind of politician. He fought for his beliefs, but did not appear to have a combative nature. He was maligned by his detractors, alternately portrayed as an evil mastermind and as a kindly but clueless old man. In spite of the brickbats hurled his way, Ronald Reagan never responded in kind. He was always gracious. The man had class.

In an era of post-Watergate, post-Vietnam cynicism, Reagan was always the optimist. He saw America as a "shining city on a hill", while his opponent saw a land beset by a plague of "malaise". An unshakeable faith in the American people was the Reagan way. Ronald Reagan was proud to be an American. He made it o.k. for the rest of us to be proud again, too.

I am proud of my vote to reelect President Reagan in 1984. I am equally proud to have worn the uniform of my country's military during his tenure as Commander-in-Chief. There will never be any doubt in my mind that we won the cold war (and we did WIN, by the way) because of the policies of Ronald Reagan.

I will miss President Reagan, as will many Americans. I am saddened by his passing, but glad he was finally released from the hellish grip of an insidious disease that destroyed the keen political mind that he possessed.

If there is one thing I am certain of, we are a better country for having known Ronald Reagan. Goodbye, Mr. President. Thank you for being there for us.