Greatness

I enjoyed the book "Greatness: Reagan, Churchill & the Making of Extraordinary Leaders" by Steven F. Hayward. Some of the quotes I've heard before, but it is great to see them again:

Churchill on history: "The longer you look back, the farther you can look forward".

George Will on Reagan: "He does not want to return to the past; he wants to return to the past's way of facing the future".

Churchill on preemptive war: "There is no merit in putting off a war for a year if when it comes it is a far worse war or one much harder to win".

Churchill on liberal/conservatie: "He who is not a liberal at 20 has to heart; he who is not a conservative at 40 has no brains."

Reagan on liberals: "Sadly, I have come to realize that a great many so-called liberals aren't liberal--they will defend to the death your right to agree with them."

"Reagan was an American conservative. This kind of conservatism is not so much a fusion of the best of the various sects as it is a dialectic, embracing the contradiction of belief in optimism and progress along with the suspicion of human nature that requires limited government. Above all it resists schematic description." (How similar that quote sounds to the Stockdale Paradox)

Reagan in a 1977 speech: "...If there is any political viewpoint in this world that is free of slavish adherence to abstraction, it is American conservatism."

The very well documented book is a study in the similarities and differences between Reagan and Churchill, and the fact that one rhetorically began the cold war (Iron Curtain speech), and one ended it ("Ash heap of history"). The Reagan quote on "your right to agree with them" is very much the core of liberal ideology. From the "fairness doctrine" to "campaign finance reform" to "hate speech", the "liberals" are constantly trying top find ways to prevent speech that they dislike. They are experts at hiding what they really are.

Unfortunately, with the limited level of power gained by the Republican party, the "purity factor" has gone well up, which has weakened the party. Reagan was NOT doctrinaire, but modern conservatives have tried to re-write history to move him farther to the right.

Solid little book ... not a must read, but a nice read.