OPINION: When she comes across biased textbooks and bitter professors in the future, she will be able to better discern fact from distortion
When people ask me why I’m a conservative, I often quip: “I was raised on Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh.”
Growing up in the 1980s in a Republican household, I both observed and was taught an appreciation for President Reagan and all he did to unburden American families and small businesses from onerous taxation and regulation, and also as a freedom fighter who successfully led the charge to end the Cold War and defeat communism.
But my 16-year-old daughter knows very little of our 40th president aside from some conversations we’ve had and what she has learned in school so far, which — much to my dismay — was that “Reaganomics hurt the working class.” My husband and I quickly corrected that attempt at indoctrination!
When I announced to my daughter we would spend some of her Labor Day Monday holiday watching the new “Reagan” movie, she wasn’t exactly thrilled, but it’s a mother’s prerogative to insist on things once in a while.
It’s very important that she understand and know the real Reagan, not the one that her biased Advanced Placement history classes teach her, lessons that paint him in a negative and critical and false light. It’s vital she understand he was not the evil, gullible caricature many of her college professors will also eventually paint him as.
The film was produced by Mark Joseph, who had a hand in very well done conservative and faith-based movies such as “The Passion of the Christ” and “The Chronicles of Narnia,” as well as the excellent documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” which delved into how higher education refuses to allow a discussion about intelligent design.
The movie did a great job portraying Reagan, from his childhood faith to his time in Hollywood to his tenure as governor of California all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
One fun scene regular College Fix readers might especially enjoy is when, in the 1960s, then Gov. Reagan read craven administrators at UC Berkeley the riot act for not cracking down on radical campus protesters before sending in the National Guard.
But the movie portrayed Reagan’s softer side too, his humor, his love for his wife Nancy, how he embraced hard work outdoors on his ranch, and his passion for riding horses.
Reagan was one of the greatest presidents this nation’s been blessed with, and thanks to this biopic, my 16-year-old got to see and learn about Reagan — warts and all — with honesty, dignity and accuracy. He wasn’t perfect — no man is. But he led with courage and conviction.
Now I know when she comes across biased textbooks and bitter professors in the future, she will be able to better discern fact from distortion. This movie accomplished more than my conversations with her insisting Reagan was something special, or the time I had her watch his “Tear down this wall” speech on YouTube.
On Monday, she walked away with the whole story, which also paid homage to Reagan’s Christian faith and the special calling on his life from the Lord.
Reagan once famously said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation.”
As parents, we must arm our children with the facts, knowledge and arguments to counter leftist indoctrination. The new “Reagan” movie made my job easier in this regard.
MORE: College Fix articles about Reagan
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