WALLY HERGER: “some of my first impressions of Ronald Reagan were back in the 1950s when I was yet in grammar school, and I observed…”

“some of my first impressions of Ronald Reagan were back in the 1950s when I was yet in grammar school, and I observed him as he hosted the ``General Electric Theater.'' And then again I remember him just after graduating from high school in 1964 when he campaigned and he spoke out for Barry Goldwater. Ronald Reagan stood for ideals that simply were not being expressed anyplace else. The appropriately named Reagan Revolution was precisely that. He was one of the main reasons I ran for political office. In the late 1970s, we heard our leaders talk about lowering expectations and the good times are over and that our Nation is in a, quote, general malaise. This was mirrored in high inflation that reached 10 to 12 percent, unemployment rates that were over 10 percent or more, and a prime interest rate that reached as high as 21.5 percent. But then in stepped Ronald Reagan saying America could do better and America would do better. When Ronald Reagan said it, you believed it. His vision of the shining city on the hill gave hope to countless millions of Americans. Back then I, as a small business owner who grew up on a ranch, the American dream appeared endangered by high taxes and big government. In California, property taxes were doubling and tripling. With Ronald Reagan, there was someone we could rally around. His hope, his direction, and his moral clarity gave us all renewed energy.”