Remembering Ronald Reagan

“Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again.” January 5, 1967; First inaugural as CA Gov.

Remembering Ronald Reagan 

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

January 23, 2011

As Americans prepare to celebrate and commemorate the life of one of our greatest and most popular presidents, Ronald Wilson Reagan, I am reminded of something said by the current White House occupant.

In Tucson he called for a return to civility. That said, I harkened back to when President Reagan could criticize specific policy and legislative proposals without sinking into the mud with name calling and personal attacks, and also enjoy a drink with then House Speaker Tip O’ Neill (D-MA).

Reagan was a man of genuine folksy charm. He could disarm political foes with the turn of a phrase, an amusing anecdote or a simple wink and a smile.

Proof of this was never more evident than during the October 21, 1984 presidential debate with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale when Reagan was asked about the age factor. After all, Reagan was 73 years old when he sought reelection. Reagan turned the tables saying, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” to the complete roar and applause from the audience. Even Mondale cracked a smile.

Yet, Reagan could play hardball with the best of them. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” he implored regarding the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987. And with the release of the hostages held for 444 days in Iran, was there any question why that event coincided with the first inauguration of President Reagan? The Iranians certainly did not fear Jimmy Carter.

Above all, with Reagan the United States was getting a president, a Commander in Chief and a leader who would restore confidence in the American people, who would give people a reason to have pride in being American once again – a president who had a vision for a brighter future and a stronger America both at home and abroad.

Ronald Reagan did not put on airs and could certainly be stoic – delivering a most stirring speech upon the horrific Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986. “We mourn their loss as a nation together… We don’t hide our space program… We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute. We’ll continue our quest in space…

“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of G-d,” concluded Reagan without the need for any embarrassing shout-outs.

Ronald Reagan was a leader not reliant upon poll numbers. Nor did he find it necessary to resort to referring to those on the other side of the aisle as enemies. Reagan was more intellectual, intelligent and curious then the credit given him by a media, that was, and remains, with little exception, left of center. There was no Fox News, Sean Hannity or Mark Levin.

Yet, President Reagan, in spite of the Democrat majority in the House during his two terms, managed to restore dignity to the United States. America once again became that “shining city on a hill,” as people returned to work while interest rates and tax rates began dropping.

“Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it. So, we cut the people’s tax rates, and the people produced more than ever before,” said Reagan on January 11, 1989 in his farewell address to America.

The United States must return to a more civil tone and discourse. The lessons learned from Ronald Reagan, the first president for whom I voted, are just as applicable now, if not more so, as we celebrate his centennial.

Words have meaning. Let’s use more of them, not fewer because somebody objects to certain words. When words fail, uncivilized behavior soon follows.

Ronald Reagan was never at a loss for words. Honor the memory of the Great Communicator and his spirit shall endure forever.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Is Rep. Cohen Grayson-Lite?

Is Rep. Cohen Grayson-Lite?
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

January 20, 2011

As a Jewish Republican I have a thick skin. Why? Because I am a Jewish Republican. That said, US Rep. Steve Cohen’s (D-TN) incendiary remarks likening the GOP to Nazis simply for the desire to repeal a poorly conceived healthcare bill not just crosses the line, but pole vaults it. As one who is Jewish, Cohen should know better than to cavalierly toss around such epithets, but he did so, seemingly, for shock value and the attention it garnered him.

When the left behaves in an uncivil manner, excuses are bandied about like candy on Halloween, yet dare a conservative utter a single syllable the left finds remotely inappropriate, that conservative is excoriated to the ends of the earth and hunted down with pitchforks and torches. Even the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League took Cohen to task for his remarks on the House floor.

As a firm believer in the First Amendment to the Constitution, I am not seeking to squelch Rep. Cohen’s right of free speech, just remind him that words have meaning and he might employ his brain prior to putting his mouth in motion. May we now call Rep. Cohen “Grayson-lite?”

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

The Democrat-ization of Hungary

Democrat-ization of Hungary

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

December 28, 2010

The headline and subheading of December 27’s editorial could easily have read “The Obamaization of America? A power-hungry president is about to embarrass the United States.”

Be careful casting aspersions, as what the Post accuses Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of doing can be said of Mr. Obama – elected from populist cloth, demonstrating himself to be power-hungry in myriad attempts to nationalize health care, the banks, the auto industry and communications in the United States as recent FCC discussions regarding the internet are proving. As with Orban, Obama, eerily similar names, took power with a large legislative majority.

Although Obama has not approached Orban’s Fidesz party in seizing control over “state television channels and all other public media outlets,” he is hypercritical of any news outlet that dares criticize him. Obama has proven to have as thin a skin as any president in history, demonstrating his petulant child-like behavior challenging his critics in public displays of “am not.”

While Fidesz is right of center, the behavior in Hungary should be labeled the Democrat-ization of Hungary – big “D” Democrat as opposed to little “d.”

Further, the editorial suggestion to boycott the May European Union summit meeting convening in Budapest, smacks of the economic boycotts demanded by American Democrats regarding issues as flying the Confederate flag atop the South Carolina capitol building and forcing Arizona to acquiesce in adopting the Dr. King holiday.

While I agree with the editorial that Orban has gone too far, I see clearly the comparison to Obama the Post won’t make.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Merry Christmas - My Jewish Perspective

Merry Christmas – My Jewish Perspective

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

December 23, 2010

Merry Christmas to all who observe this Christian religious holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

I say “my Jewish perspective,” because as a conservative, sadly, I do not speak for all Jewish people. I believe in wishing people a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah when I know what holiday they observe. I send out Chanukah cards to my Jewish friends and Christmas cards to my Christian friends.

When strangers wish me a merry Christmas, I thank them and offer them the same pleasantries. After all, there’s probably an 85 to 90 percent chance that wishing a stranger a Merry Christmas is correct, so I am certainly not going to get offended when the odds are stacked that way. And why should anyone get offended when being wished a pleasantry by a stranger?

Every year during the holiday season – and it is a holiday season as Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa are celebrated – there seems to be a growing battle over what to say to people, how to behave in group settings, schools, town halls and stores. During this season of peace on earth and goodwill toward men, there seems to be a war on words – that in a nation that prides itself on a First Amendment right of free speech, the ACLU and other word-police groups want to ensure anything but peace on earth or goodwill toward mankind. (No doubt someone will criticize the use of men and mankind in this paragraph.)

This is an important time of the year for Christians and it should be so recognized. Granted it has been co-opted by department stores and turned into a commercialized gift-demanding extravaganza, but sadly, so too has Chanukah over recent years. Just for the record, Chanukah is not the Jewish Christmas, or more accurately, Christmas is not the Christian Chanukah, as Chanukah predates Christmas by more than two centuries.

Chanukah, while important historically, is a minor festival commemorating the Maccabee’s victory over the Assyrian-Greek rulers in a three-year war fought for religious freedom from 168-165 BCE. More religious observances for Jews occur with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Passover, for example.

The reason for this ever so brief history lesson is to respond to the politically correct who insist on lumping all the winter holidays into a giant seasons greetings card that acknowledges nothing specific. They do this to prevent people from feeling excluded. Here’s a little clue for the PC crowd: religion IS exclusionary and that does not make it bad or wrong or damaging to anyone’s self-esteem or psyche.

That religion is exclusionary is not akin to joining a country club that refuses membership to a particular race or religion. Anyone can become a member of any religion – provided they abide by its precepts and laws. Most people simply choose to remain connected to the faith unto which they were born. People of faith do not feel excluded as they have a spiritual belief system by which to adhere. And as there are myriad religions, the holidays that fall under their related auspices should be recognized individually, and without backlash from the ACLU, atheists or any other ill-informed PC loons. It is those people who plant the seeds of strife and divisiveness.

There’s a fine line between insanity and the abyss and these examples that follow, are demonstrative of people who clearly have pole vaulted over that line with room to spare.

Protests erupted in Pennsylvania over a years-long tradition in a place called Christmas Village, simply because of the name of the town. A Christmas parade in some town in Oklahoma was renamed a holiday parade so as not to make non-Christians feel excluded. The name of the town escapes me, but since is wasn’t Oklahoma City or Tulsa, it makes one wonder how many non-Christians were affected by this?

At Virgin Valley High School – no joke – in Mesquite, NV, saying “merry Christmas” has been “forbidden” to school district employees and “strongly discouraged” for students.

But the lulu of them all came from right here in our own backyard at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Prince William County earlier this week. A group calling itself the Christmas Sweater Club for the crazy sweaters they wear this time of the year was given detention for singing and tossing tiny candy canes to the student body – those that were at the school at 7 a.m., before the school day officially began.

The club members were charged with attempting to “maliciously maim students with the intent to injure.” Furthermore, Battlefield principal Amy Etheridge-Conti said the candy canes are weapons because they can be sharpened by the consumer’s mouth and used to stab people. Clearly this is a woman who is not getting enough oxygen to the brain. Amazingly, pencils have yet to be banned at Battlefield High.

A report came out that Christmas trees were making people feel excluded, nervous and uncomfortable in Canada. It’s a tree, people, not a soul snatcher. What the hell is wrong with people?

Make no mistake, Christmas is not my holiday and I do not celebrate it – nor should I – but I certainly enjoy the beauty of the Christmas tree in all its decorated splendor. And as much as I hate winter and the cold weather, one of my fond childhood memories was to be bundled up, piled into the car with my sister and parents, both Blessed memories, and we would drive around to look at the Christmas lights, followed by mugs of steaming hot chocolate.

I do not feel excluded from Christmas any more than my Christian friends feel excluded from Chanukah. I no more feel excluded from Easter than they do from Passover.

On this day of Christmas Eve, I say Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Salivating Over a TCU-Rutgers Rivalry?

Salivating Over a TCU-Rutgers Rivalry?

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

November 30, 2010

For years I complained that the Atlanta Braves had no business being in the National League West while the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals existed in the NL East. As a lifelong New York Mets fan, I quickly learned how true the adage “be careful what you wish for” is as the hated Braves reeled off 14 consecutive division titles in the realigned East.

And for years, the National Football League also continued to twist American geography with the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East and the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers in the NFC West. It’s no wonder American students have no sense of geographic knowledge of their own country.

 “The Dallas Cowboys play in the NFC East; TCU and their fans will be right at home in the Big East,” said former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, in support of TCU accepting an invitation to join the Big East effective July 1, 2012.

Comparing Texas Christian University being the Big East with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles in the same NFL division is terribly disingenuous. Professional teams are designed to travel and can afford the time and cost of such. TCU is a university whose players are supposedly students first, and the extended travel time is even more time out of the classroom.

The NFC rivalries are about as old as the NFL itself. Who’s showing up for that vaunted TCU-Rutgers game – in either football or basketball? Ooh – there’s a snore-fest that will garner a .001 on the ratings scale.

I am not so naïve as to not understand the financial, recruiting and television contractual advantages to see the Big East expand to Fort Worth, TX. But then again, it hasn’t really been the Big East in years, more like the Big American Behemoth Conference, stretching as far west as Indiana – hundreds of miles from the Eastern Seaboard. These mega-conferences are too unwieldy and dilute the importance of the traditional conference rivalries.

The Big East is not a football conference and TCU is not a basketball school, the Big East's bread and butter. A 17-team conference is outrageous, not that 16 is any better.
TCU should compete in an all Texas conference with Texas, Texas A & M, Texas Tech, University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Southern Methodist University (SMU), Houston, Rice, Baylor and North Texas University.

There is no doubt the Texas Conference would be a more than competitive conference and would produce quality bowl representatives on an annual basis. Two five-team divisions would produce a conference title game with an automatic BCS bid and four additional bowl teams would lend much credence to a new conference. With nine games against the conference teams, traditional storied rivalries can be upheld on an annual basis – Texas/Oklahoma for example.

Villanova in the Big East for football is a good idea, as they are already a strong hoops competitor in that conference. Adding Richmond and Temple in both sports makes sense as well, but the Big East has got to lose Cincinnati, De Paul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame and West Virginia. With Temple and Richmond in hoops, the Big East would have 14 teams. If the Big East feels compelled to have 16 schools, add George Washington and Rhode Island, who would already have natural rivals in the conference.

With the notion of Temple leaving the Mid-American Conference, they would have an even dozen teams; and leaving the Atlantic-10 would put the Owls in one conference, as it should be for all schools. There should not be split conference allegiances for different sports.

Dropping the six aforementioned schools would allow the NCAA to drop the Big LEAST from the automatic BCS bid, which is B.S. to begin with, but that’s a column for another day. The Big East would still have four or five quality bowl competitors every season, such as Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Temple.

The Big East would have a 12-team football conference that can be divided into two six-team divisions, featuring a championship game, and a 16-team basketball conference divided into two eight-team divisions. (G.W., Rutgers, St. John’s and Seton Hall would not participate in the football portion of the Big East.)

Conferences should remain true to their geography. The ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) should no more have Boston College among its ranks then the Big East should have South Florida. But at least USF is ON the East Coast or in eastern seaboard states. Trade the two – BC would renew their rivalries with Connecticut and Providence, while USF would have intrastate rivalries with Florida State and Miami, shoring up the ACC’s Florida link.

The six schools recommended for being dropped from the Big East – Cincinnati, De Paul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame and West Virginia could form a New Conference USA with Alabama-Birmingham, Central Florida, Dayton, East Carolina, Jacksonville, Marshall, Memphis and St. Louis. Tulsa could move to the depleted Big 12 while Southern Mississippi and Tulane could join the Southeastern Conference.

The invitation of TCU to the Big East is not the impetus of this tome – it has been a long time in coming since the Big Ten added Penn State and did not change its name; since Conference USA stretched from East Carolina to UTEP two time zones away in El Paso where frequent flyer miles are more important than grade point averages.

The University of Utah has no business joining the Pacific-10 Conference either, but again, it’s all about the expansion of television rights. If the Pac-10 wants to expand, seek out hoops powerhouse Gonzaga, eventually they could put a competitive team on the gridiron.

Were the Utes to remain in the Mountain West conference with state rival BYU (leaving to become an independent – also a mistake), along with the addition of Boise State in 2011 as well as Fresno State and Nevada in 2012, this could be a powerful conference, especially if TCU were to stay put. This would be a geographically cohesive 12-school conference with solid competitors in both football and basketball. A football title game would put the winner in the BCS, where either Boise State, Nevada or TCU belong this year, as well as two or three other bowl eligible schools on an annual basis.

This is an expensive game of athletic and geographic dominos the conference CEOs are playing and one which the fans, and more importantly, the student athletes could lose – badly.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Adopt Israeli Air Strategy

“They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

Adopt Israeli Air Strategy

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

November 18, 2010

In baseball, good pitching beats good hitting, or so goes the adage. In sports in general, good defense thwarts a solid offense and quickly leaves the field giving momentum to the offense.

War is much the same – a solid defense of one country usually prevents the offensive of another country from taking effect. Certainly former President Ronald Reagan understood that as the United States won the Cold War leaving the Soviet Union a crumbling figment of its former self having broken down into myriad smaller nations of little consequence.

However, that the once great Soviet army could not defeat a rag-tag band of Afghanis in the 1980s was clearly a harbinger of things to come. The war on terror, and make no mistake, it is a war – declared by Congress or not, war has most certainly been declared on the United States by terror cells and groups throughout the Muslim world.

Yes, the Muslim world – we’re big boys and girls – at least outside of the current administration with its collective heads still deep in the sand – that we can affirmatively identify what we have known since before September 11, 2001 where our enemies have originated – in extreme Muslim ideology – straight from the Koran. All one need do is read it for proof.

And like a defense left on the field of play for an overextended period of time that eventually becomes weak and porous, so does that of a military which is short of ideas on how to combat the offensive. That is the current state in which the United States finds itself while attempting to combat a terror offensive that seems to know no bounds.

When one brand of defense falters, it is time to go back to the locker room at halftime and draw up a new plan. For the United States, it is time to adopt the Israeli defense strategy in dealing with air travel. A system privatized, not run by the government or union shops as has been proposed in the United States, as if delays in air travel aren’t bad enough now, imagine what will happen when unions run things.

In Israel psychological profiling rules the day where potential trouble is caught before it even reaches check-in and El Al does not have hijackings or terror attempts – at least none that reach the point of passenger awareness – and that is an important comfort. These are professionally trained men and women who interview passengers prior to reaching security to determine their flight-worthiness.

And while the naysayers are quick to point out how many flights leave Israel on a daily basis versus those that leave American airports, the airlines had better consider their own bottom lines – the profit and soon to be large loss statements.

How long will people continue to put up with what has turned from an inconvenience of removing shoes and belts to what is now, by all legal definitions, sexual assault by government flunkies. Remember, airline CEOs, the government has little vested interest in whether or not profits are made – see Amtrak and its stellar profit margins.

Adding insult to potential injury is the statement made by the virulently anti-American Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) calling for Muslim women to arrive at airports in full Muslim dress demanding that the TSA only pat down their head and neck areas in deference to their religion. (Have Orthodox Jewish groups made the same unconscionable demands regarding their women who also dress modestly – covering from neck to wrists to ankles and wearing wigs? Certainly not.)

Remember, flying is not a right. It is a privilege and there are rules which are printed on the backs of airline tickets as well as on airlines’ websites. That said, touching of genitalia – never. Allowing CAIR and Muslim women to dictate the terms of their pat downs – never.

The United States is back on its heels playing catch up to the terrorists. Only after Muslim terrorists hijacked and crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon did this nation began to investigate where flight students originated and their status in this country. Only after the “shoe bomber” did airlines have passengers remove shoes and forbid carrying lighters or liquids of greater than three ounces. Only after the “underwear bomber” attempted to go “fruit of ka-boom” in Detroit, did airlines institute more strict searches. It’s a miracle they didn’t start inspecting passenger’s undies then.

In each case, the key word is “after.” Now, there is the most invasive scanning and groping to see if that’s a weapon being packed in the shorts or under the nun’s habit or in the infant’s stroller. However, until the United States adopts the Israeli strategy, it is actually necessary to conduct these searches, due to the short-sightedness of the government, specifically the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

These strict searches have become incumbent upon the airline industry because of the Muslim terrorist lifestyle. Why are infants’ strollers searched? Why are nuns searched? Why are men in wheelchairs searched? Because the Muslim terrorist has no regard for life. They are willing to sacrifice their women and children, for which they have no respect, and themselves as well, for the hopes of reaching heaven via some Koran edict about killing so-called infidels.

Further proof of this is how weapons are stockaded in elementary schools and milk factories. That no sacrifice is too insignificant and that the terrorists know Western sensibilities and emotions run high at the loss of innocent life. Thus a major difference between them and us.

The Israeli strategy must be adopted and pro-active measures must be employed in an effort to once again make the once friendly skies more tolerable. Yes, that means profiling, but at the same time remembering that converts to any religion are typically more zealous than those born into that faith, thus making everyone a suspect worthy of profiling, thus the need for the Israeli system.

Inculcating the Israeli system upon American should be relatively simple and easily accepted when considering the current hands-on approach that is turning frequent flyers into drivers and stay at home former travelers because the inconvenience has far outweighed the former allure of travel to exotic lands and family events.

Interestingly, that civilization began on the banks of rivers and seas in a part of the world that today is bereft of civilization. People lived close to their birthplaces out of necessity and civilizations grew around water for sea travel was the mode of the day. Terrorism may very well force people back to living close to their birthplaces once again in order to remain close to family and avoid what may or may not await them in the skies.

An important lesson must be culled from the words of the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1898-1978). “We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” Sadly, that day is nowhere in sight.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Send Moran Packing - Military Style

Send Moran Packing – Military Style

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

October 25, 2010

While there are myriad reasons not to send Jim Moran back to Congress, his recent disparaging remarks against every member of the military past, present and future top the list.

To suggest, nay, in Moran’s case to say outright, that military service is not community or public service is as a big an affront to anyone who ever wore, wears or will wear the uniform – regardless of political affiliation. When those brave men and women don the uniform it says United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard – not Democrat or Republican.

Moran should be ashamed of himself and remind all the voters in Virginia Eighth Congressional District when they cast their ballots next Tuesday, November 2 that the Pentagon and the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery is in their district.

While on the subject of the military and Election Day, there have been stories around the country regarding delays in getting ballots to our servicemen and women overseas. This is an absolute disgrace. If there is any group whose ballots should be counted it is those folks There is no excuse for this to happen.

And although I am not a conspiracy theorist, the largest amount of delayed ballots have come from New York, Illinois, Arkansas and New Mexico. You do the electoral math. Every military ballot should be counted. If that means delaying the certification of elections in some districts, so be it. That’s partly why there is a lame duck session – votes need to be verified and recounts need to occur where necessary.

There has been a move for a number of years, coming almost exclusively from the left, to enfranchise non-citizens simply because they are living in the United States – legally – working, paying taxes, etc. This has gained more and more traction, which should never be allowed. When so little concern is offered to our overseas troops’ potential disenfranchisement, why is there a push to give voting rights to non-citizens?

That then leads to my last Election Day and voter concern – voter fraud. No one without a voter registration card and a photo ID should be allowed to vote – period. There is no excuse for a voter to not carry his or her card in their wallet. Arguments have been made that to expect people to show up at the polls with identification is somehow a violation of their rights is specious at best, moronic and insane is more like it.

Eventually voter registration cards should actually have a photo on them. Whatever the cost to produce it is worth it to protect and guarantee the sanctity of elections in this Republic. Remember, on Election Day next Tuesday, your vote counts – use it!

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

[This column appeared in the Alexandria Times.]