THE MUSIC STILL STIRS ME

Peggy Noonan — former Reagan speechwriter turned Wall Street Journal columnist and chronicler of the Reagan legacy — has a great piece about the unveiling of Reagan’s statute at the U.S. Capitol.
Summarizing Sen. Mitch McConnell’s speech: ” … in the 1980s, when the world said America was over, America said not quite, and when they said freedom was yesterday, America said I don’t think so. Reagan ‘stood taller than any statue.'”
But here is the portion that grabbed me:

The colors were presented. The U.S. Army chorus sang the national anthem so beautifully, with such harmonic precision and depth, that some dry eyes turned moist, including those of the crusty journalist to my right. Congressmen hear choirs sing patriotic songs all the time and grow used to it. The rest of us do not and are stirred. Tourists walk through the Rotunda and think to themselves that they’d die for the signs and symbols of this place. Lawmakers experience the Rotunda as a connecting point between House and Senate that’s too often clogged by overweight tourists in shorts from Bayonne. We need term limits. When the music no longer moves you, you should leave. When you cannot leave, you should be pushed.

Amen.

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