When I was a kid, cowboys were my heroes. Well, I mean the ones in the white hats, not the black hats, who were the bad guys.
There was Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Johnny Mack Brown, Hopalong Cassidy, Red Ryder, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, then later Marshall Matt Dillon, and others. Personally, I think Gene Autry could beat 'em all up, and then sing a song afterward to his girl friend. He was my favorite.
What were common attributes of these legendary cowboys? Here are a few:
1. They were never looking for trouble.
2. But when it came, they faced it with courage.
3. They were always on the side of right.
4. They defended good people against bad people.
5. They had high morals.
6. They had good manners.
7. They were honest.
8. They spoke their minds and they spoke the truth, regardless of what
people thought or "political correctness," which no one had
ever heard of back then.
9. They were a beacon of integrity in the wild, wild West.
10. They were respected. When they walked into a saloon (where they
usually drank only sarsaparilla), the place became quiet, and the bad
guys kept their distance.
11. If in a gunfight, they could outdraw anyone. If in a fist fight,
they could beat up anyone.
12. They always won. They always got their man. In victory, they rode
off into the sunset.
Those were the days when there was such a thing as right and wrong, something blurred in our modern world, and denied by many. Those were the days when women were respected and treated as ladies, because they acted like ladies.
Now as a senior citizen, I still like cowboys. They represent something good -- something pure that America has been missing. Ronald Reagan was a cowboy. I like Ronald Reagan, who was brave, positive, and who gave us hope. He wore a white hat. To the consternation of his liberal critics, he had the courage to call a spade a spade and call the former Soviet Union what it was -- the evil empire. Liberals hated Ronald Reagan.
They also hate President Bush because he distinguishes between good and evil. He calls a spade a spade, and after 9-11 called evil "evil," without mincing any words, to the shock of the liberal establishment. That's what cowboys do, you know. He also told the French to "put their cards on the table" (old West talk), which they did, exposing their cowardice and greed.
The Arabs are wrong. In the old West, might did not make right. Right made right. Cowboys in white hats were always on the side of right, and that was their might.
I am glad my President is a cowboy. He will get his man.
Cowboys do, you know.
