Back while I was writing the initial portion of this piece, President Ronald Reagan passed away. It was impossible not to be struck by the profound difference in how Reagan and Billy Jack portrayer Tom Laughlin viewed America. To Reagan, America was the oft-cited shining city on the hill, a glowing lantern of liberty offering hope and inspiration in a dark world. To Laughlin, America was an evil, racist country, one so hopelessly corrupt that, in the end, its overthrow was the only hope for world peace and progressive human enlightenment.

Motivated by his beliefs, Tom Laughlin made a handful of films, and many millions of dollars. To his credit, he reinvested his money in his pictures, hoping to convince others of the validity of his beliefs. The result was that he lost much of his fortune when his moment passed. His vision of America lost favor with even the majority of those who once shared it, and his final film was barely released at all.

Motivated by his beliefs, Ronald Reagan was twice elected President of the United States. His successes were many. The one that overshadows all others, however, was his aggressive prosecution of the Cold War against an enemy that he rightly named an Evil Empire. In the end, his policies were instrumental in triggering the collapse of the Soviet Union. One result was perhaps the single most inspiring event of the 20th century. A few years after Reagan left office, the peoples of a divided Germany rose up and, as Reagan had once demanded, tore down a wall that had stood as one of history’s starkest symbols of tyranny.