In a world reminiscent of the chaotic 1970s, Reagan offers a timely vision of hope and leadership

Runaway inflation, high energy prices, problems in Eastern Europe, and a failed foreign policy that results in Iran threatening Israel and our interests around the world.

What has happened over the past few years is disturbingly reminiscent of the problems the United States faced in the 1970s. Then, as now, America was looking for leadership in the face of a series of weak CEOs.

Then from the West came Ronald Reagan, governor of California for two terms, a conservative who was attacked even by members of his own party, calling him a warmonger and a Neanderthal who supposedly did not understand the modern world.

Dennis Quaid stars as the 40th president in “Reagan.” (Getty Images)

But he understood that big government had gotten out of hand, and that government was not the answer to our problems—it was too often the problem. America was not weak; we had simply lost the will to build and project our power.

ONE FEATURE OF REAGAN AND TRUMP THAT SPECIFIES THEM ABOVE OTHER PRESIDENTS

Reagan taught us that peace does not come to our shores when we are weak; peace comes when we are so strong that our enemies do not even try to be adventurous. He also knew that a strong economy is the key to the strength of our nation and the continued peace of the world.

I was a young accountant in the late 70s and a Democrat like my mother. I prepared tax returns for investors who were in the 70% tax bracket. They were investing in various tax shelters to avoid this confiscatory tax. They were investing very conservatively, taking no risks, where the rewards from taking risks went disproportionately to the government. Keeping only 30% after taxes was not enough of a reward to risk a new technology or other innovation.

It was Ronald Reagan and his policies that brought me and other Democrats to the Republican Party.

I RUNNING THE PENTAGON UNDER TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION AND WE HAVE TO FIGHT LIKE REAGAN

Reagan changed the calculus of high tax rates and stifling regulation. He worked with Democrats like House Speaker Tip O’Neill, an old Massachusetts Democrat with a very different view of the role of government, to lower tax rates to 28 percent as part of a grand bargain. Eliminate tax shelters that the wealthy used to avoid taxes in exchange for a very low marginal tax rate that would encourage investors to take risks.

The result? The US came back stronger, and for the next 40 years we outpaced the world with all kinds of new technologies and innovations. At the same time, Reagan pushed for a massive expansion of our military and armaments, sparking a spending battle with the old USSR that bankrupted them and freed millions of people in Eastern Europe.

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We are in danger of forgetting this history, but this month the film Reagan will bring these facts to a new generation that must relearn the basic principles that guided the 40th president. As its star Dennis Quaid often says, this is not a boring history lesson (that is not what movies are for), but above all a funny story about a man who, despite many setbacks, overcomes the odds. Someone who has seen it described it as a combination of Forrest Gump and Rocky, and I agree.

I played golf a few times with the movie’s star, Dennis Quaid, and although if you blink you might miss it, I have a small role in the movie—I play Chief Justice Warren Burger, the proud Minnesotan who swore Reagan in for his first term.

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But I am especially proud to be spearheading the effort to bring this film to the next generation. I hope to be able to provide a free ticket to every student through my nonprofit, Friends of the Reagan Film (FORM). If you agree with me that the next generation needs to learn about Ronald Reagan and experience this incredible story, please visit our website at reaganmoviefriends.org.

Reagan himself often warned us that the United States was only one generation away from losing its freedom. It is up to all of us to renew our great legacy of small government and a strong national defense that supports freedom at home and around the world. I hope—and I trust you—that Reagan’s film will ignite in our young people faith in America and those first principles.

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