Me? Apparently, I'm an infidel, as are most Americans in the eyes of the Islamofascists with whom we are at war. And, as the title indicates, my heroes have always been cowboys, and that is what we infidel Americans are always identified as. Personally, I don't see it as an ephithet but more as a compliment.

I'm not old enough to have grown up on the old westerns, and I didn't grow up on a ranch. But as you may have noted if you read the other links, there are all kinds of cowboys. As a kid, my cowboy heroes were mostly entertainment figures like Roger Staubach, Han Solo, and Dirty Harry.

Then one fateful day as I was delivering newspapers in my small hometown, a reporter for the paper I was delivering asked me whom I thought should be elected president: Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan? Being all of 12 years old, it seemed odd that anyone would care what I thought, although I see now the Democrats have a 12 year old girl speaking at their convention on the need for timeouts for the Vice President. Anyway, my answer was Ronald Reagan, and the reason I gave is that he would build more minute man missiles and protect our country.

Even though I was only 12, it was obvious that something was wrong in this country. We had a major Vietnam hangover, inflation had hit double digits, as did unemployment, the prime interest rate was near 20%, pissant terrorists thought they could attack us with impunity, we had a bunch of hostages in Iran and other places in the middle east, and we lived in fear of a nuclear holocaust, and nothing was being done about any of it as far as I could tell.

Yes, Ronald Reagan had many flaws. He may have broke some laws. He thought ketchup should be counted as a vegetable. But he did fix the things that mattered to me at the time. That is more than I can say about any president before or after in my lifetime. Being a "cowboy", I loved the "evil empire" rhetoric, because it was true and someone finally had the guts to call them on it. Iran didn't dare continue holding hostages. Tax reform and government action stabilized and strengthened our economy. Qaadafi's swimming pool became a bullseye and he went away. Our military was strengthened. The Soviet Union tore down the wall and folded. Ronald Reagan was a great American cowboy.

Having said that, I know that it will be difficult to disabuse the reader of the belief that I am a right wing Republican apologist. Nothing could be further from the truth, as you will soon see as we look at the next president after Reagan. George Bush the first was a good enough man, but I blame him for the rise of the religious right in American politics. The "family values" code word coalitition has contributed mightily to the demise of civilized discourse in politics. I personally have very libertarian views on the war on drugs, prostitution, gambling, and other so-called victimless crimes. There are many things that I think are wrong but that we don't need laws against. And we sure as hell don't need to be locking up non-violent offenders at a cost of billions of dollars a year and immeasurable cost in broken families. Like Carter, Bush may have been a good man, but he was not an effective president, and neither of them was a cowboy.

In my mind, the most effective president other than Reagan that we had in my lifetime (1968-present, if you are wondering) was Bill Clinton. His economic record is untouchable. His welfare reforms were humane and effective, maintaining a social safety net while being fiscally responsible, two things I hold dear. He listened to the people and seemed to understand the collective will better than most presidents have. Of course, like Reagan, he had flaws. Boy, did he have flaws! But so does our society. When he and we should have been worrying about terrorists, he was dallying with interns and we were fascinated with it. I don't blame him in any way, shape, or form for the 9/11 attacks, though. If you do, you need to ask yourself some questions. Would you have believed in the threat while enjoying the go-go 90's when it seemed there wasn't a care in the world? If you say yes, did you think we should have launched a "War on Terror" after the embassy bombings or the first WTC attack? Or did you see it as an aberration or law enforcement matter? Clinton led us the way we wanted to be led. Worry? Who, us? Which attitude now seems like a luxury, but was appropriate at the time. I would put him in the category of "wanna be a cowboy" - he was definitely a good ole boy, anyway.

Which brings us to W. W is a cowboy, no doubt, in image, manner, beliefs, attitude, and leadership style. As I mentioned earlier, the religious right wing of the Republican party scares me. I want W re-elected, but only because we are at war and I trust him and his posse to win that war more than I trust the other guy and his. Realize that I don't like Ashcroft, I don't think much of the Patriot Act, and I am afraid of what might happen if any Supreme Court Justices keel over or retire. But to contine the worn out metaphor, there are still some desperadoes out there that need to be tracked down. When it is all over, Sheriff W may himself get run out of town, but while the work is still there to be done, he is the best man in the race to be doing it. Seriously, if you believe national security is the most pressing issue facing us right now, would you rather have Powell, Rumsfeld, Rice and Bush? Or Albright, Berger, Wilson, and Kerry? And if you don't think national security is the most pressing issue right now, what is? The economy is growing at its fastest rate in 20 years. Home ownership is at an all time high. Teen pregnancy and crime is down. Yes, there are many issues that need addressing, including the obscene concentration of wealth and power among a few elites, but that can wait unless you are a die-hard Marxist and think we should sieze property and redistribute it. Once we are secure again, I do believe other issues will be more important in determining our leadership. But that time is not yet here.