A Point of Light Shines Bright

Shortly before midnight on November 30th former President George W. Bush issued the following statement:

“Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens.”

And with those words a good man has passed…a decent and humble man forever united with his beloved Barbara, his wife of 73 years. And as a family mourns their father and grandfather “Poppy,” we as a nation mourn a lifelong dedicated public servant…America’s 41st president George H.W. Bush…the last of the World War II “greatest generation” to hold the position of President of the United States.

George H.W. Bush, the patriarch of an American political dynasty, was a true gentleman who embraced traditional American family values and was a man who deeply loved this country. George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts, the son of Dorothy Walker Bush and Prescott Bush, an investment banker who became a 10-year Republican senator from Connecticut. After graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., then 18-year old George Bush enlisted in the U.S. Navy becoming a naval aviator. Shot down in the Pacific on September 2, 1944 after having flown 58 combat missions off the carrier USS San Jacinto as a torpedo bomber pilot, George H.W. Bush was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery and three Air Medals as well as the Presidential Unit Citation…one of WWII’s true war heroes.

George H.W. Bush married Barbara Pierce in 1945 and together they moved to Texas where he worked in the oil business and was elected to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1966 and 1968). In 1970, Mr. Bush lost to Lloyd Bentsen in his bid to become a senator from Texas, but was then appointed to several key high-level political positions including Ambassador to the United Nations by President Richard M. Nixon (1971 to 1973); Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1973-1974); United States Envoy to China (1974-1975); Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1976-1977) both by President Gerald Ford; then becoming Ronald Reagan’s vice presidential running mate in 1980 and 1984, and then becoming the Republican presidential candidate in 1988…the first sitting vice president to win the White House since Martin Van Buren did so in 1836. And no vice president after Bush to date has managed to succeed his president in office.

“There is no higher honor than to serve free men and women, no greater privilege than to labor in government beneath the great seal of the United States and the American flag.” George H.W. Bush’s words to senior staffers days after taking office.

And even with his having such a truly qualifying resume, George H.W. Bush was still considered by many to be a “transitional figure” when becoming president as he promised both continuity with the Reagan years and no radical changes. And while unable to put into affect any major domestic programs due to his being constrained by a large budget deficit, limited federal revenue to fund key programs, and a Democratic-controlled Congress, what many forget is his achievements, first and foremost of which is the fact that it was he who played a major role in helping Reagan end the Cold War along with its threat of nuclear war with Russia. And he did so via his strong, steady, yet dignified low key approach with what came to be known as “telephone diplomacy”… as the collapse of the Soviet Union unfolded and the liberation of Eastern Europe began. And it was Mr. Bush’s focused approach alone that allowed for the peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union.

So while Ronald Reagan did end the Cold War in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall…George H.W. Bush, a true pragmatic, attended to its “clean-up phase” if you will.

“I already miss the greatest human being that I will ever know. Love you Dad!” Jeb Bush on Twitter the day after “Poppy’s” passing.

But no matter his successes on the international stage, including in 1989 when he sent American troops to Panama to depose Gen. Manuel Noriega who in turn was returned to the U.S. to stand trial as a drug trafficker, and when he assembled a 30-nation coalition (which included Arab nations) to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion in January 1991’s Persian Gulf War (dubbed Operation Desert Storm), with success coming in just a mere 100 hours after the ground operations began…coupled with some limited success on the domestic front including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Clean Air Act Amendments… “Bush 41”…as he has come to be known…was unfortunately destined to become a one-term president.

“Your success now is our country’s success I am rooting hard for you.” Part of George H.W. Bush’s letter to incoming President Bill Clinton.

And that destiny came to fruition when during the late 1980’s economic recession…a recession that was primarily the result of restrictive monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve…he uttered six little words at the 1988 GOP convention that sealed his fate…“Read my lips, no new taxes”…six little words he could not recover from…six little words that directly ushered in the nightmare that is Bill and Hillary Clinton…a nightmare that continues to this day.

Six little words…now also remember that George H.W. Bush actually ran against Ronald Reagan in the 1980 Republican primary and it was here where he publicly called Reagan’s “supply-side faith” that government could slash tax rates without losing revenue a “voodoo economic policy.” And while history did prove his words to be true…as Reagan had to reverse some of his tax cuts in the face of ever mounting deficits…Bush’s promise that he would not raise taxes was probably his biggest regret and his biggest mistake. During the 1990 budget negotiations with Democratic congressional leaders, Mr. Bush, like Reagan before him, cut a deficit reduction deal and simply did so because he truly felt it would help the country. But that help came at a high price as it directly led to higher taxes and Republicans losing the 1990 midterm elections.

And while the tax hike did reduce the deficit and produce surpluses unseen in decades, it sadly cost Mr. Bush his Republican and conservative base, a base who sadly felt they could no longer trust him to be a man of his word. And then there’s the fact that he was being perceived as being “detached” from the working class’s everyday lives…after all Bush came from a well-to-do family…a perception the even back then liberal media helped to perpetrate in an election whose focus was now shifted back to the economy.

And with George H.W. Bush’s loss to William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton a generational shift in American leadership began as the heroes of World War II truly became relegated to the pages of history as far as the presidency was concerned. And this shift, whether it be good or bad, changed American politics forever as it gave rise to a younger generation of leaders…leaders who did not know first hand the true horrors of war and so made mistakes when going to war.

“Melania and I join with a grieving Nation to mourn the loss of former President George H.W. Bush, who passed away last night.” President Donald Trump on hearing of the former president’s passing while at the G-20 Summit in Argentina.

So that which will become “Bush 41’s” true legacy and place in history must still await the passage of time for the ever ongoing partisan divide coupled with major misconceptions on our side’s part and now with the added in shameful “media missteps” in covering Mr. Bush’s death…have more than seen to that.

And nowhere are those misconception more erroneous than in those who claim George H.W. Bush was a globalist…a New World Order sort hellbent on seeing our nation come crashing to the ground. But this is far from the truth for while Mr. Bush did indeed make statements relating to a “New World Order” it was not…I repeat not…the sort of an evil totalitarian one world government that today’s globalists and their liberals cohorts refer to, but of a world “freer from the threat of terrorism”…a world moving towards peace, prosperity, and economic stability for all with individual sovereign nations working together via “the rule of law not the rule of the jungle” in a proper and constructive way…sort of what a functional and honorable U.N. would do as opposed to the U.N. of today.

And if you don’t believe me watch the video below in full, listen to Mr. Bush’s words carefully and learn the truth…for what he said almost two decades ago is really but the hope and dreams of all civilized men today.

And while those spreading misconceptions do not seek nor want truth as it does not fit their political agendas…and here I speak of those on both sides of the aisle…in the end history tends to be the sole purveyor of truth. And as accolades come in from both past and present world leaders, I believe that history will judge George H.W. Bush well not just as America’s 41st president but as a good and decent man dedicated to the country he loved, the country he was so proud to serve.

“This is America…a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.” President George H.W. Bush in his convention acceptance speech.

And now the heavens shine bright with yet another point of light. God’s speed Mr. President..Rest in Everlasting Peace…you served and honored your country well.

Copyright @ 2018 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.

https://thepatriotfactor.blogspot.com/2018/12/op-ed-point-of-light-shines-bright-by.html
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Full Ceremony: George H.W. Bush lies in State…

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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen’s blog The National Patriot to read his latest article The Liberals Guide to Christmas.

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS…LIVE!

Friday, December 7th from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss ‘A Point of Light Shines Bright’; ‘The Liberals Guide to Christmas’; the funeral of George Herbert Walker Bush, and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history…or on Tune-In at: https://tunein.com/radio/American-Political-Radio-s273246/