Following in the footsteps of one of this nations’ greatest presidents is no easy task, but Michael Reagan, eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, has risen as an American hero in his own right. The nationally syndicated radio show host aligns closely with grassroots America while challenging Republicans and Democrats alike who compromise and politicize the principles of freedom. Broadcasting four hours each day from Los Angeles, California, Reagan has a well earned reputation for exposing the politics of Washington, D.C. and is often credited with flooding Capitol hill with calls from listeners unhappy about politics as usual. But there is nothing usual about Michael Reagan. He speaks with the same passion for liberty that his father defended so courageously. And his voice resonates loudly over the liberal media spin doctors, speaking of property rights, liberty and freedom in America once again.

Ridenour: There’s a story behind how you got into a syndicated radio show. How did it all start?

Reagan: I went to work for KSDO Radio in San Diego in 1989 and worked up until about February 1992 when I was told that Rush Limbaugh would replace me. And so I really had a choice at that point. Go to another market or begin a national show. We started the show September 7, 1992 with five stations.

Ridenour: Now you have about 150 stations. That’s phenomenal growth in just five years. To what do you attribute this success?

Reagan: A lot of hard work and being persistent. People told me to quit in the beginning . . . and so it was very, very tough.

Ridenour: You recently announced your decision to leave the Republican Party. Why?

Reagan: I’m taking an extended leave of absence because I have just been upset with the lack of backbone in the Republican Party. They have completely caved to the President on all these issues. I support those freshman and sophomore Members of Congress, because I think they have backbone. Unfortunately, we run into some limp wrists when you get higher up into the food chain. I know that the media attacked Newt Gingrich, attacked the leadership, attacked the Republican Party, but that same media attacked Ronald Reagan relentlessly from the day that he entered politics back in the 1960’s when he ran for Governor up until probably the day he announced he had Alzheimer’s and wrote the letter.

Ridenour: What kind of reaction have you had from your listeners? Any feedback from Republican leaders?

Reagan: Everything has been positive, not only [from] the listeners, but also back in Washington, D.C. I had people call me on the phone saying thank you very much and telling me that it ... has given them the impetus now to go to the leadership and say here is what’s going on in grassroots’ America. I wanted to be, if you will, the Joan of Arc of the grassroots. I wanted to put myself at the stake and say you’re losing grassroots America. You better figure out a way to get them back home. And so, I figured that if ... a Reagan leaves the party, somebody’s got to wake up.

Ridenour: The Senate recently ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. As you know, the Treaty has enormous implications not only for national security and national sovereignty, but for private property rights.

Reagan: I fought that so much. The day of that vote, I stayed all six hours on the air. I just stayed live with the show and took calls. People of America are going to sleep. They had better wake up and smell the United Nations. They’d better wake up and smell sustainable development. They’d better wake up and smell that every day a little piece of sovereignty is being taken away.

Ridenour: Senator Lott’s role in ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention has been likened to former Senator Howard Baker’s role in the ratification of the Panama Canal Treaty. Do you agree with this assessment?

Reagan: I agree with that. Lott will be judged on it because I won’t let him get away with it. We talk to two million people each week.

Ridenour: We tend to think of environmental and property rights issues as issues of interest to only a narrow group of people — those living in resource dependent communities in the West. Yet, you have devoted considerable time to these issues on your national show. Why have these issues played such an important role?

Reagan: Slowly but surely when you start making Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, the caverns there in New Mexico World Heritage Sites under United Nations auspices, that affects everybody. It’s no longer just the guy who lives in Podunk, Iowa being affected by environmental law. It has to be an education process and that’s what we try to do with the show ... on realities of what’s going on.

Ridenour: After an initial flurry of legislative activity, Congress appears to have lost its stomach for reform of environmental laws. What do you think happened? Was there an environmental backlash?

Reagan: One of the major problems was with the Republican National Committee. The Republicans got off to a great start. But there was no public relations program going on. If you’re going to change things, what you need to do is to educate Americans at the same time. And I think they went in with the idea that we’re now in charge, the press is going to change, the press is going to be on our side. They didn’t understand that the press was in cahoots with the Democrats. And they beat up Newt Gingrich, and the Republicans never came back. You’ve got to answer the questions that are posed from the other side. If you don’t, then the American people get this belief system that it must absolutely be true.

Ridenour: Increasingly, many believe that Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Trent Lott are the leading obstacles to common-sense environmental reforms. Do you have any suggestions on how these two leaders might be dealt with?

Reagan: Newt Gingrich is a little green behind the ears, I think everybody knows that. You have to just keep smil’in and dial’in. You have to stay on top of these people. We may find we ultimately have to put other people in there who are going to stand up and be right with the right people in America and speak for grassroots. Ronald Reagan got elected president because he was from the grassroots. A lot of people think of him as the party candidate. But he was never the Republican Party candidate. He won because grassroots America allowed him to win and he always spoke for the people. Right now nobody’s speaking for the people. Take Trent Lott when he said to the President of the United States after brokering the Chemical Weapons Convention deal, "Well, I went against my constituents and my base, now you’ve got to go against yours." Excuse me? You don’t get sent back to Washington to vote against your base.

Ridenour: So, you’re saying that the answer is to do more at the grassroots level?

Reagan: Absolutely. We just have to keep on pushing. We have to keep on shoving...

Ridenour: There’s a great deal that doesn’t appear to be going the right way for those of us who believe liberty matters. Do you believe we will ultimately be successful?

Reagan: [W]hen Barry Goldwater lost back in the 1960’s, ... Ronald Reagan emerged. I think we need to find that new leader. If things are going to change in America to put ourselves on the right track, we need that leader to take us to the next millennium. . . When we lift up the snail darter and push down God himself, that is the opposite of what this country was founded on.

Ridenour: Thank you for your time. Please send our best wishes to your father and thanks for all he did for this nation.