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Following on from our previous post on the privilege of visiting President Reagan’s home in California, the Young America’s Foundation, which owns and preserves his ranch, highlights this video clip:
You wouldn’t catch the likes of Al Gore living anywhere as modest as this…
For those activists lucky enough to be heading to America this summer with the Young Britons’ Foundation, here’s a taster. Last summer TYC was lucky enough to be in California with YBF to mark the 25th Anniversary of Reagan’s epic tax cuts (would that Gordon wasn’t historically illiterate as well as economically). Here’s a flavour of Reagan’s idyllic ranch in the Californian hills, via the Young America’s Foundation.
by Byron York
Originally appeared in the Washington Examiner
Santa Barbara, California — You drive up a steep, rough and winding road to reach Ronald Reagan’s ranch in the Santa Ynez mountains. For eight years, from 1981 to 1989, this place north of Santa Barbara was the Western White House; Reagan spent nearly a year of his time in office here. Now, what he called Rancho del Cielo is pretty much deserted.
But the ranch, tended by a lone caretaker, is still much like it was when Reagan was alive. It’s not open to the public; these days, the old adobe house and 688 surrounding acres are owned and carefully maintained by the conservative Young America’s Foundation. The group doesn’t have the staff or resources to conduct public tours, but they were kind enough to take me on a visit one afternoon last week.
The first thing that strikes you as you approach the house is how modest it is. The main part of the building was constructed in 1871. Even after Reagan added a couple of rooms when he bought it in 1975, the whole house only measured about 1,500 square feet.
The floors are covered in a brick-pattern linoleum. (”He laid it himself,” my guide tells me.) The furniture is plain and comfortable; there are a couple of chairs upholstered in an orange-and-brown patchwork pattern that could have come out of any middle-class American den of the 1970s. There is western art on the walls.
The bedroom is small and plain, with what looks like an old Ethan Allen chest and two bedside tables that had to be turned sideways because the room wasn’t wide enough to fit them. Reagan’s nearby bathroom has a modular shower and a toilet squeezed in a tiny nook.
Any budget hotel down the road has more comfortable accommodations. Reagan, who with his wife was pilloried for having a plutocrat’s taste, in fact enjoyed a level of simplicity beyond what most vacationing Americans would accept.
The house is nestled on the edge of a mountainside meadow. It’s idyllic, but if you drive about five minutes away, you’ll find another spot on the property, at the top of a hill, where the president could have built a new home, perhaps an impressive monument to himself, with fabulous views of the Pacific to the west and the valley to the east. Instead, Reagan preferred the little house by the meadow.
Walking around the ranch, you can’t help thinking about the current Republican party and its relationship to Reagan. One feeling the ranch produces — nearly forces on you — is the realization that the 1980s were a long time ago. When Reagan took office, the top income tax rate was 70 percent. The Cold War was in one of its most dangerous phases.
By the end of his administration, Reagan had reduced that confiscatory 70 percent tax rate to 28 percent. And he won the Cold War. Most presidents don’t leave much for us to remember them by. Reagan has two great legacies.
But what does it mean for us today? Certainly low taxes and a strong national defense remain bedrock principles for conservative Republicans. And when Democrats argue, as Sen. Charles Schumer did recently, that the Reaganite “traditional values kind of arguments and strong foreign policy, all that is over” — well, someday he might discover otherwise.
But what specific policy proposal would Reagan embrace today to deal with skyrocketing health-care costs? The credit crunch? Immigration? No one can really say.
Perhaps it would be more instructive to look at the man himself. Over a lifetime of thought and study — he was 69 when he became president — Reagan developed a set of core principles that guided whatever he did. To those core principles — liberty, free enterprise, American exceptionalism — he added his own personal qualities. He was a serious reader, a self-improver, decidedly non-cynical, temperamentally non-Washington, and deeply patriotic. A gift for communicating made those qualities instantly recognizable to the American public.
As you walk around the old ranch, and see the private spaces where he spent so much time, you realize perhaps more than ever before that it was Reagan’s character that made his triumphs possible. For Republicans, coherent positions on today’s policy debates will emerge in time. The tougher question is where they will find a man like Ronald Reagan again.
Yasin Akgun, vice-chairman of UKIP’s youth wing Young Independence, has posted an interesting article at IndependenceHome on the Leftist tendancy – be it the BNP or Labour – to obcess over pidgeon-holing people.
“One thing has always puzzled me about Labour. And that is for a party which so believes impassionately about being non-racist and accepting it really does do a bad job of these things.
I recently read the BNP’s “Language & Concepts Discipline Manual” which stated that there are no Black British or Asian British people. That a black or asian person can not be deemed British. And then I read some Labour literature which breaks the population in to two; white or ethnic minority.“
It sounds reminiscent of a recent guest post on this blog by Sahar Rezazadeh questioning the need for special ‘officers’ in student unions, and also the Young America’s Foundation poster, below.
The next time you encounter someone on your campus who believes confiscatory tax levels are okay, try this on them, courtesy on the Young America’s Foundation.
They visited a campus and asked students to sign a petition ‘redistributing grade point averages’. The British equivalent would be to ask your fellow students to donate a part of their latest essay mark or exam grade to students who hadn’t worked hard or otherwise were failing. Oddly, none of the usually leftist students found redistribution so attractive when it was something they’d worked hard for…
Dr Roy Spencer thinks so. Listen to the dissenting view that the Earth Hour brigade and their ec0-fascist climate alarmist chums don’t want you to hear.
Seeing as so many people are planning to sit in the dark, pretending to be cave men for 60 minutes in an act of penance directed toward their green original sin there should be a lot less people online, meaning your broadband will run quicker, so put it to good use and listen to this courtesy of the Young America’s Foundation:
Further to Sahar Rezazadeh’s critique of the Left’s penchant for creating ‘officers’ to polarise and play off groups, I’m reminded of this cracking flyer from the Young America’s Foundation which contrasts the way the Left and Right view society.
Update: Donal Blaney has been blogging today on similar lines, recalling the 1983 Tory poster of a black man, with the caption “Labour says he’s black; we say he’s British”; and he reminds us of Morgan Freeman’s denunciation in 2005 of America’s ‘Black History Month’:
“You’re going to relegate my history to a month?”, he said.
“Freeman notes there is no “white history month,” and says the only way to get rid of racism is to “stop talking about it.” The actor says he believes the labels “black” and “white” are an obstacle to beating racism. “I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man,” Freeman says.”
This morning the Young Britons’ Foundation (YBF) have a searching post, asking activists to look at their branch and see if theirs is merely busy, or actually active. Is your branch merely holding the line, or is it advancing the front and taking the fight to the enemy?
“Delivering leaflets, canvassing voters and holding socials are all worthy activities – and necessary. But do they advance conservative ideas amongst your peers? Do they grab attention from the student and local media?”
YBF cite the Campus Conservative Battleplan by Patrick X. Coyle of the Young America’s Foundation as the bible of campus activism in America. In it, Coyle advances a doctrine of aggressive activism.
“This is where conservative groups make a constant effort to challenge the Left’s ideas and to promote their own at every opportunity. You might think that an example of this is to host a sound speaker on campus. But if all you have is a room of conservatives listening to another conservative and agreeing with him, is this activism? The key is to promote the talk to non conservatives, prepare for leftist infiltration, get the media on side and make the event controversial and worthy of interest. Now it becomes aggressive activism, as opposed to passive activism.”
Under aggressive activism activists are encouraged to think beyond just the treading water activities which often comprise the totality of traditional activism, and think of innovative ways to capture the media’s attention and reach out beyond their native audiences. Stunts are a great way to do this.
“YBF is running a series of stunts on campuses right now. One of the most effective ones is to host a candle light vigil for the third world victims of the Common Agricultural Policy. 275 people die every hour in the third world thanks to the EU’s trade barriers. A mass of candles and a dozen activists can get this point across very well, and attract significant media coverage of a shocking statistic.”
If your branch needs advise on campaigns and activism all you have to do is call Christian on 07876 708 262. YBF campaign advice and guidance is available 24/7.
Read the full post on aggressive activism here, and don’t forget that British activists have a campus bible of their own in the form of Every Monday Matters.
As the crucial vote on reinstating the military at UCL draws nigh, let’s focus on how you can support the military on your campus.
Remember, if you’re a UCL student, you must vote in the AGM on February 3rd. More here.
First stop is the Young Britons’ Foundation, who offer a comprehensive pack of materials to help you support the military on your campus.
The packs include 10 copies of the ‘Behind Our Troops’ poster (shown right), plus:
- Advice on pressuring the University to erect memorials for fallen alumni (of any conflict)
- Advice on holding fundraising events for Help for Heroes
- Advice on working with the OTC to organise welcome home parades for troops
- A draft motion of support to put to the Student Union, or a draft motion to overturn existing anti military policy
- Advice on holding a service of thanksgiving for servicemen and women in the university chapel
- A 10 point briefing note for pro military activism
If you would like one of these packs, simply email christian@ybf.org.uk to arrange delivery. Thanks to the support of YBF’s donors, these packs are available for free to those who wish to claim back their campus from the rabid left.
Next, this podcast (30mins), entitled ‘Protecting the ROTC on campus‘, was originally given at the Young America’s Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference. It’s packed with ideas for how campus activists can support our military. Obviously, it’s from an American perspective, but easily importable to a British context.
The Young America’s Foundation Director of Military Outreach Flagg Youngblood talks about how our military secures the peace and democracy we enjoy, how it has given democracy to the oppressed overseas, and how the left, who are the most vocal in the field of human rights, are utter hypocrites for not supporting the one force in the world that actually advances those values. He gives some excellent suggestions and examples for how campus activists can stand up for those that serve.
The podcast also refers to the Sharon Statement, which you can read here.
In a few hours the Young America’s Foundation’s West Coast Leadership Conference – the largest gathering of conservatives on the Pacific seaboard – gets underway in Santa Barbara, California, and you can watch it LIVE!
For those of you considering travelling to the US next summer with the Young Britons’ Foundation, this will give you some idea of what it’s like.
Broadcasts should begin from 4am GMT. WATCH ONLINE HERE
Schedule:
Saturday
04:00 (GMT) Best-selling author Peter Schweizer
Makes and Takers: Conservatisms vs Liberals
16:00 (GMT) Talk radio host and author Michael Reagan
Post-Election Thoughts My Father Would Have
17:00 (GMT) Reagan Ranch Board of Governors Chairman Frank Donatelli
Thoughts on the 2008 Election from a Washington Insider
18:00 (GMT) Election Analysis and Looking from 2008
Moderator: Ron Pearson: Vice President, Young America’s Foundation
Michelle Easton: President, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
Kirby Wilbur, host KVI AM 570, Seattle
Kate Obenshain, Vice President, Young America’s Foundation
Ron Nehring, California Activist
19:00 (GMT) U.S. Congressman The Honourable Mark Souder (Indiana 3rd District)
Conservatism in 2009
20:45 (GMT) Syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager
I Lose My Job if The Fairness Doctrine Passes
22:30 (GMT) Screenwriter/author Andrew Klavan
Educating the Soul: Why Conservatives Need the Arts
23:30 (GMT) Baja Fresh CEO David Kim
What Ronald Reagan Taught Me About Capitalism, Philanthropy; and What it Means to be an American
Sunday
00:30 (GMT) Wall Street Journal Writer John Fund
Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy
Dr Walter Williams is the sort of lecturer we all wish we’d had, and the sort of lecturer more young people need to hear! With as much wit as erudition this lecture, covering Freedom, Economics and Private Property, which was given to the Young America’s Foundation’s National Journalism Centre, poses, amongst others, the question, “What are the legitimate functions of the State in a free society?”.
The lecture opens with a five-minute foray through the US Constitution, framing the discussion in an American context for its original audience. After that, its content is entirely applicable to conservatives of any nationality, focusing as it does on the evils of taxation and government encroachment upon individual liberty.
The message, that people need to realise that when government funds some or other social project “Government has no resources of its own…The only way that government can give one American citizen one dollar, is to first, through intimidation, threats and coercion, confiscate that one dollar from some other American…Government [does] things that if a private person did the identical thing we would roundly condemn him as a low-down, ordinary, despicable thief” is the same in any language, in any country. Now more than ever we need this simple wisdom to inform electors and much as the elected.
The quote is especially valuable in the current economic climate, and ought to be a stock response to socialist:
“Free enterprise is threatened today not because of its failure, but because of its success. That is, capitalism has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of mankind – that is disease, pestilence, famine, hunger and gross poverty – that all other human problems appear to us to be at once inexcusable and unbearable. The desire by many Americans to eliminate these so-called unbearable and inexcusable problems had led us away from the basic ideals and principles upon which our prosperous nation was built. In the name of other ideals, such as equality of income, sex and race balance, affordable housing, medical care, orderly markets, consumer protection, energy conservation and so on, we have abandoned many personal freedoms.”
Listen to the full lecture here:
