Ronald Reagan Day in Kansas
In recognition of the extraordinary leadership of the late President Reagan, today I led the Kansas Senate in unanimously passing a resolution naming February 6th as Ronald Reagan Day in Kansas.

Co-sponsored by Senator Dennis Pyle, our Resolution 1814 highlights the monumental contributions that President Ronald Reagan made to America, indeed the entire world, during his life. Reagan is an icon of optimism, faith and hope in the American people. I am honored and humbled to sponsor this simple recognition of his character, vision and leadership. Every year, I receive a letter from junior high students in Kansas asking a simple question – who is the president I admire the most? Here is my response:

Thank you for asking which president I admire the most. The answer comes immediately to my mind -- Ronald Reagan. Mr. Reagan became president when I was a little older than you, and he made a very powerful impression on me. Unlike most politicians, Mr. Reagan was positive. His message was uplifting. He called Americans up to greatness, not down to envy, hatred or division.

He also had a demeanor, a way of life that understood the goodness of men, as well as the evil. And he carefully distinguished between the two. Particularly when he called the communists of the then-Soviet Union, the >evil empire,= many mocked him. Yet, President Reagan refused to back down. That is called character, Justine. For when he is willing to stand by his principles, his Christian faith, that is a president we can all admire.

We expect our presidents to be leaders. Yet being a good leader means many things, especially to lead others to become more than what they are. For me and others, President Reagan called us with a vision of the greatness America could be. He understood our history, our Christian heritage, the gifts God gave this nation, and he inspired in me the desire to share in that history.

Reagan in his own Words

** "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done." (National TV appeal for Goldwater, 1964) ** "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes." (Joking on a radio microphone test, 1984)

** "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

** "I have seen the rise and fall of Nazi tyranny, the subsequent cold war and the nuclear nightmare that for fifty years haunted the dreams of children everywhere. During that time my generation defeated totalitarianism. As a result, your world is poised for better tomorrows. What will you do on your journey?"

** "The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take a civil-service exam."

** "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

** "I've spoken of the shining city all my political life... a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.... After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home." (Farewell address, 1989)

** "They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that 'the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits -- not animals.' And he said, 'There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.'"

** "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." (Campaigning in 1980)

** "I hope you're all Republicans." (To surgeons after his assassination attempt, 1981)

** "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."