Hand Of Providence : The Strong and Quiet Faith of Ronald Reagan

Rating:
Summary: A superb piece of work
Review: This is a book with lots of heart and soul, but the research is also first rate. I highly recommend for Reagan fans and those interested in the power of God and inspiration.

Rating:
Summary: Reagan was a disaster
Review: To hear that this disaster of a human being was motivated by faith in god does not make me like or trust him more, to say the least. I'm much more concerned with the damage he did than with his spiritual life, and apparently that was of a piece with Nancy consulting astrologers. How I wish I could have written his obit!

"Ronald Reagan, one of the world's most successful terrorists and con men, died today at the age of 93. His mind had gone ten years earlier, or arguably much earlier than that, and rumors that he had a soul have never been confirmed. Indeed, lack of a soul might have been the one circumstance that could have won him forgiveness, for it would have made more understandable his complete lack of any moral compass,
and would have provided an explanation for his obvious and pathetic hollowness.

As an actor in Hollywood, he was a New Deal Democrat and the President of the Screen Actors' Guild. However, his allegiance to a better society and the American labor movement was as tenuous as it was to his fellow actors and supposed friends and constituents, whom he--with his trademark cheerfullness--ratted out to an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming names and reporting on who had attended what wartime rally to support our Soviet allies at what time. He was a man who unerringly took the main chance. inspired by Barry Goldwater, he became a Republican in 1962. He then worked ceaselessly to make sure that all of the country's resources and social privileges ended up in the hands of those who could best make use of them, that is, those who already had the most of them. His legacy lives on.

As president, convinced that he knew the one correct way for people everywhere in the world to live, he set about smashing emerging democracies like Nicaragua and funding death squad governments in El Salvador and Guatemala while describing these policies as being in support of freedom--the freedom of US corporate interests to brutally enslave Central Americans. In the service of this great and humanitarian idea, Reagan had the honor to instruct his puppet armies to target hospitals and schools, orders which have been very well documented.

Ironically, he was to go down in history as a kind man, at least among Americans. Reached for comment today, a ragged group of Guatemalan peasants had little to say about him that was compatible with this newspaper's family format.

He had the great good luck to happen to preside over a time in which the Soviet Union was crumbling from its own inherent cruelty and irrationality. He sold the preposturous and highly dangerous idea of a space-based missile defense to a paranoid and credulous American people that had, in general, very little education in physics or international relations. He did make one important contribution to the downfall of the Soviet Union when he supported Jihadist opposition to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, one effect of which was to radicalize and popularize Muslim leaders such as Osama bin Laden, launching them on long and successful careers. The effects of this alliance, of course, linger with us today.

He was an amiable man who made friends easily, even with people whom others could not get along with, such as Saddam Hussein, Jonas Savimbi, and Pol Pot, manly warriors who between them killed several million innocent people in their megalomanical struggles to attain and maintain power. He did his best to win over the mad mullahs of Iran, kindly selling them missiles and using the profits to give even nicer gifts to his friends fighting that evil, nasty, popularly elected government in Nicaragua. When a spiteful little Congress tried to give him grief just because this was against the law and against the constitution, he didn't sink to their level, didn't get down in the mud with small-minded legislators; in his gentlemanly way, he merely replied, 'I don't remember...'"



Rating:
Summary: In light of Reagan's Death
Review: When President Reagan died I felt that I wanted know more about his faith and family. This book gave me a rare peek into the very private life of President and Mrs. Reagan. It answered my questions, like if he has a strong faith in God why didn't he go to church. I highly recommend this book. It is a quick and easy read and highly informative. Michael Reagan wrote the forward, and he amazed me with his hearty endorsement of the book's conclusions. This book has even helped me sort out my own beliefs.