Politics & Power Quote by Jim Ramstad

Ramstad’s line performs the classic political two-step at a national funeral: it sanctifies, and it recruits. “My fellow Minnesotans” isn’t just a hometown flourish; it’s a claim of standing. He speaks as a proxy for a whole state, converting private grief into a shared civic ritual. That move matters because mourning in politics is never only about the dead. It’s about re-stitching the living into a story that feels stable.

The pairing of “mourning the loss” with “celebrating the life” is carefully engineered balance: sorrow without despair, praise without giddiness. It keeps the speaker in the safe emotional register Americans expect after a president dies, especially one as polarizing in policy as Ronald Reagan. The phrase “America’s 40th President” signals institutional continuity over ideology; it’s the office that’s being honored, which invites listeners across party lines to participate without swallowing every decision Reagan made.

Then comes the real work: “personified both the greatness and goodness of America.” “Greatness” is power, confidence, victory narratives - the muscular Reagan brand. “Goodness” is the moral alibi, smoothing over conflict by implying character resolves controversy. Ramstad isn’t arguing policy; he’s laundering politics through biography. In that framing, to praise Reagan becomes to praise the nation itself. The subtext is loyalty: to mourn him is to affirm a certain version of America - optimistic, righteous, and unified - at a moment when unity is easiest to perform and hardest to sustain.