This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE (6-15-04)

My faith in America has been partially restored.

At times these days It’s difficult to find the America that I once knew....where people acknowledged divine guidance and we had In God We Trust on our money.....we had “Under God” in our pledge of allegiance....yes....and even when we had prayers in school.

Recent years have seen the vicious attack on all those things that we held dear for so many, many years.

The nation seemed not only divided, but intent on trying to fashion an entirely new America.....founded on whatever groups like the ACLU and other religious extremists felt was right for the country.

My faith in America has been truly tested of late what with our young men and women fighting and dying to try to inject a form of democracy into the troubled middle east only to have every action severely criticized at all stages.

And then.....a tragic thing happened. Former President Ronald Reagan....who had been suffering from Alzheimers for the past ten years....died of complications from that ailment.

I remembered that while he was President...many in the media were telling us that he slept through meetings...and didn’t seem to know much about anything. Yet, he was astute enough to bring down the wall of Communism that surrounded Germany and send the forces of Communism into full retreat...setting the stage for a free Europe as it is today. I wondered how the general populace would view the death of this President.

I need not have wondered. Thousands upon thousands of average everyday Americans stood in line sometimes for hours...just to pay a personal tribute to his memory. As the caisson carrying his coffin wound its way to the Capitol building to lie in state....hundreds of thousands took the occasion to pay silent tribute.

Then....thousands more of these same everyday Americans silently walked by his casket,.,.,,paying silent tribute.

Yes....there were those in the media who turned a jaundiced eye on the ceremony and delighted in downgrading what President Ronald Reagan had accomplished.

It was extremely obvious that the media has had little impact on the average everyday American. The outpouring of sympathy was further proof that Americans think for themselves. They do not take media pundits viewpoints for gospel.

Where once there was the time when such pundits as Rather, Jennings or Brokaw were considered gospel....and I feared that America would be mesmerized by their words....I know now that is not the case.

Yes....we will always have those with us who look for the bad things....who delight in what I call garbage news and biased viewpoints. Our society, thankfully, is a free society....and even the views of dissenters are permitted.

But....the voices of the everyday Americans was heard loud and clearly these past few days....and my faith in the future of America has been partly refreshed.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.