ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS REPUBLICAN

In 2003, Michael Moore was booed for attacking President Bush at the Oscars. It wasn’t one of his finest moments, but he wasn’t a member of Congress calling the President a liar to his face during a joint session.

Even though former Strom Thurmond page and current South Carolina Representative, Joe Wilson, has apologized, his behavior reflects a growing concern I have about the Republican party.

Earlier this week, the President was supposed to address my children, but our Republican governor disapproved.

Now before you accuse me of being partisan, one of my best friends is a Republican. He assures me that his party’s concern wasn’t about politics.

I had to think about that. On November 14, 1988, C-SPAN broadcast President Ronald Reagan’s address to junior high students throughout the nation. Reagan stated:

“But America's world leadership goes well beyond the tide toward democracy. These days, whenever I see foreign leaders, they tell me about their plans for reducing taxes and other economic reforms that they're using, copying what we have done here in our country. I wonder if they realize that this vision of economic freedom -- the freedom to work, to create and produce, to own and use property without the interference of the state -- was central to the American Revolution when the American colonists rebelled against a whole web of economic restrictions, taxes, and barriers to free trade. The message at the Boston Tea Party…was America's original tax revolt. And it was the fruits of our labor -- belonged to us, and not to the state. And that truth is fundamental to both liberty and prosperity.”

No one accused Reagan of “spewing propaganda.” I remember; I was in college and many of my friends and I didn’t care for Reagan—not that I am partisan of course. One of my best friends--even back then-- was a Republican.

Reagan claimed:

“Our Founding Fathers were the descendants of the Pilgrims -- men and women who came to America seeking freedom of worship -- who prospered here and offered a prayer of thanksgiving, something we've continued to do each year, and so that we'll do it again on Thursday of next week.”

Of course no one accused him of being a racist, even though he omitted that silly part about what the Pilgrims did to the Native Americans.

When President Ronald Reagan addressed the school’s children, he was treated with the deference he deserved because he was the President of the United States. Similar to President Obama, he encouraged children to stay in school, but he wasn’t accused of being an ideologue.

President Obama, I hope when you speak in the Twin Cities tomorrow you receive the respect you deserve.

To quote Reagan’s protest-free school address, "Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.'' And before you accuse me of being partisan, just remember, one of my BEST friends is a Republican.