Tea Party: We’re Reagan’s ‘new patriots’

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As I watched the tea-party protests and crowded town halls, I couldn’t help but think of President Reagan. For millions of us, the dismal Carter era sparked a similar political awakening, and Ronald Reagan was the key. He wasn’t the source of our new vision, but he knew the source and pointed the way. He understood the trials ahead, and regularly explained them to us. Back then, most young Americans – like so many today – didn’t understand what had happened to our country. We didn’t fully realize the nature of “liberalism” (especially those of us who were Democrats) until Reagan stepped into the political arena and boldly proclaimed American liberty. Like today, it was a time of economic struggle, and socialism was on the march. In the painful aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, made more painful by a cynical media, self-doubt among traditional Americans was palpable even as we headed toward the 1980 election. But Reagan remained optimistic – and he was a fierce campaigner. He rebuked liberals who blamed America for everything (some … Continue Reading

Rejecting our fathers, destroying our country

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“He was a bully and a coward,” Tom Cruise recently told Parade Magazine, talking about his own father. “He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick. It was a great lesson in my life – how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!” “For me it was like, ‘There’s something wrong with this guy,’” said the famous actor, then drawing the “life lesson” most children with father problems draw: “Don’t trust him.” I sympathize with Tom Cruise more than I can say, although my distrust problem was not rooted in an abusive father but in my parents’ divorce. I spent three difficult years in a boarding school for “emotionally troubled youngsters,” although who knows, Pleasantville Cottage School may have actually saved my life, giving me the stability my mother hoped for until she remarried (she left my father when I was 5). Yet, being separated from my parents was unbearable, and I remember running away from school regularly, trying to get back to New York City … Continue Reading

Son of divorce

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My mother left my father when I was 5 years old. I make no harsh judgment of my parents, who have many wonderful qualities. But from that moment I began my personal journey, a struggle that has so far lasted a lifetime – getting over the fear and anger that resulted from that one single decision. And there are millions of other Americans coming up behind me with the same demons. We are not just a social problem, but also a growing political force. In fact, America’s ability to maintain her freedoms may ultimately depend on there being some kind of massive national healing, which, let’s face it, can only begin with massive national honesty. We don’t get much of that from the secular culture. So let me start here with myself. I have only two real memories of home life before my parents separated: my father practicing scales on his flute (he was a professional musician) and, of course, the sound of angry voices – coming from the next room. I don’t remember any … Continue Reading