Ronald Reagan’s principles of sunny optimism and appeal to the ideals that have made America great offer hope for today’s young people, according to Dr. Paul Kengor, author of 11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative.
Kengor contends that Reagan tapped into ideals that were common to Americans across all ages and walks of life that allowed him to win two consecutive landslide victories in 1980 and 1984. Reagan’s message resonated in places such as Massachusetts, where no Republican presidential candidate has won in a general election since.
Young Americans were a key part of those wins.
“Reagan spoke of American ideals and values that had appeal among younger people,” Kengor said. “He showed what it meant to be an American.”
Some of those values, Kengor contends, are reflected in Reagan’s belief that faith and freedom were the “twin beacons” that made America great and distinguished it from other nations. Reagan was fond of championing the cause of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of enterprise, noting is fragility.
“It needs protection,” Reagan said in his Jan. 11, 1989 Farewell Address.
This commitment to faith and freedom undergirded Reagan’s desire to cast communism into the ash heap of history because its repression of basic civil liberties, calling it a “test of faith and spirit.” Unlike the current White House occupant, Reagan believed first and foremost in the strength of the individual — rather than the sort of “collective action” advocated by President Obama.
Young people also turned to Reagan because his policies rescued America from the runaway inflation and bleak economic outlook of the 1970s. In that respect, young people faced similar odds to what many face today. Costs of basic goods and services more than doubled between 1970 and 1980. Something that cost $1,000 in 1970, for example, cost $2,126 in 1980.
Kengor recalls that by the time 1984 rolled around, the spirit of America had turned around from the dark days of the 1970s and the depths of the 1982 recession.
“I was a college student, and it was morning in America,” Kengor said. “There was a definite sense of revival. Reagan was kind of a rock star. Alex P. Keaton was cool because Ronald Reagan was cool.”
Keaton was Michael J. Fox’s conservative character on Family Ties and a pop culture icon of the 1980s – emblematic of the millions of young people Reagan brought into the GOP. A whopping 61 percent of people between ages 18 and 24 voted for Reagan in 1984, roughly mirror of the turnout in Obama’s favor in 2008.
