After casting my first vote for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, I was shell-shocked after Ronald Reagan was swept into office. Then something odd happened. I was buoyed by Reagan's optimism, became convinced about the evils of communism and came to realize the free-market economy—rather than expanded federal power—offers the best hope for the downtrodden (and everyone). The Gipper convinced me.
He had some help from former Buffalo Bills quarterback and then-U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp (R–N.Y.), who was an architect of Reagan's tax cuts. I was influenced by one of his articles making the humanitarian case for a market agenda. "Kemp symbolizes for many the hope for a more decent and humane conservatism—a conservatism that leaves nobody out and nobody behind," wrote David Frum in a 2015 tribute to him.
