It's funny how much our memories of 1976 differ. My parents, staunch Republicans, were appalled by Jimmy Carter. To be fair, they would not have liked any Democratic candidate for presidency. But they really didn't like Carter.

And at 14 years old, I hadn't developed my own political allegiances and philosophies yet. I would, however, by the end of Carter's presidency, by which time I had decided I could no longer support the Republican Party.

My parents, like most of my family, were delighted by the rise of Ronald Reagan and his politics of homespun, down-home cruelty, delivered with a master communicator's warm smile.

My parents were from the working class, and I've never really understood how they embraced the politician who stood for union busting and maximizing income and profits for the rich. But he hornswoggled them, like he hornswoggled so much of the nation — who were turned off by Carter's values of love and equity for all.

Are we ready to get back to his kind of values as a nation?

I hope so! Because Reaganesque values bring us nothing but cruelty and rule by wealth.

I join you in being encouraged that we might now be headed to a better ethos and a better place.