Memories of the Reagan Revolution

As we face the last few months of the Bush Administration, I am feeling melancholy. It may be a long time before we have another evangelical Christian in the White House. I am feeling nostalgic for the Reagan years. Like Sen. John McCain, I too was a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution.

During the 1984 campaign, my younger brother Mike (then 14) and I (then 16) cut school and attended a Reagan campaign rally. We worked for Youth for Reagan in Seattle, WA, and were assigned to guard the doors and stop protesters from entering. We confiscated several Mondale signs from a bunch of protesters who tried to sneak such signage into the sacred Reagan Rally. Afterward, a hippie handed my brother a flier that said, "You Are A Tool of Ron!" The hippie was right. We proudly held on to it and used it as a book mark in our copy of Barry Goldwater's book, "Why Not Victory?"


During the Reagan Rally, while Reagan was speaking he quoted Abraham Lincoln. Just then, a bunch of women started to scream about Nicaragua and the Contras, and some idiot stood up and shouted "Lincoln was a Democrat."

After making sure the man who stood up was being taken care of, my brother and I hustled over and tore down their signs and covered their coats with "Reagan-Bush 1984" bumper stickers. It was even broadcast by the local media (KOMO TV), which we videotaped on our suitcase-sized VCR. One of the most treasured memories of my life was when Reagan made eye contact with us and gave the "thumbs up" sign after shutting those women up.

My brother and I made up a bunch of very creative signs to use at the Rally. While we were making the signs the week before, a reporter from one of the Seattle papers came by and interviewed us and was beside himself that young people were growing up to be conservatives. Later, after the Rally, the late Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn (who was then King County Chairwoman) told us the Gipper himself saw the signs, and appreciated them.

Ok. I am rambling. But these memories will keep me going over the next 4 years -- 8 if the media plays their cards right. But again, I am hopeful. If Jimmy Carter gave us Reagan, just imagine who Obama will give us!