mikescott
19-06-2004, 06:28 PM
That gut feeling
How did he do it, those puzzled intellectuals still ask? By being primally American: nonchalant, ever-hopeful, tough as an old boot when necessary. By plucking the hearer's heart, in speeches written for him by speech-writers who knew what phrases—“the surly bonds of earth”, “the boys of Pointe du Hoc”—would flow naturally from his lips. But above all by knowing that mere reason, essential though it is, is only half of the business of reaching momentous decisions. You also need solid-based instincts, feelings, whatever the word is for the other part of the mind. “I have a gut feeling,” Reagan said over and over again, when he was working out what to do and say.
And what might he be thinking this week, now that he has cast aside the particularly surly bonds of his last years on earth? Ronald Reagan believed in American power, not just the military sort of power but also economic strength and that special American gusto. He had no problem with the idea of an American imperium. But he did not mean by that word an empire of the sort the Europeans used to have.
The European empires were far-off lands controlled by the imperial power, which sent out its soldiers and judges and “collectors” to govern them. When the end of the cold war opened the door to a new, post-20th-century world, Reagan hoped that American power could now be used to help far-off people decide for themselves how they should be governed. He reckoned most of them would choose the democratic road, bumpy though it often is—and be duly grateful to America. There was nothing wrong or ignoble about that hope. It has become reality.
How did he do it, those puzzled intellectuals still ask? By being primally American: nonchalant, ever-hopeful, tough as an old boot when necessary. By plucking the hearer's heart, in speeches written for him by speech-writers who knew what phrases—“the surly bonds of earth”, “the boys of Pointe du Hoc”—would flow naturally from his lips. But above all by knowing that mere reason, essential though it is, is only half of the business of reaching momentous decisions. You also need solid-based instincts, feelings, whatever the word is for the other part of the mind. “I have a gut feeling,” Reagan said over and over again, when he was working out what to do and say.
And what might he be thinking this week, now that he has cast aside the particularly surly bonds of his last years on earth? Ronald Reagan believed in American power, not just the military sort of power but also economic strength and that special American gusto. He had no problem with the idea of an American imperium. But he did not mean by that word an empire of the sort the Europeans used to have.
The European empires were far-off lands controlled by the imperial power, which sent out its soldiers and judges and “collectors” to govern them. When the end of the cold war opened the door to a new, post-20th-century world, Reagan hoped that American power could now be used to help far-off people decide for themselves how they should be governed. He reckoned most of them would choose the democratic road, bumpy though it often is—and be duly grateful to America. There was nothing wrong or ignoble about that hope. It has become reality.