Posts Tagged ‘Ronald Reagan’

“I think the best possible social program is a job.” –Ronald Reagan

“Because ours is a consistent philosophy of government, we can be very clear:  We do not have a separate social agenda, a separate economic agenda, and a separate foreign agenda.  We have one agenda.  Just as surely as we seek to put our financial house in order and rebuild our nation’s defenses, so too we seek to protect the unborn, to end the manipulation of schoolchildren by utopian planners, and permit the acknowledgment of a Supreme Being in our classrooms just as we allow such acknowledgments in other public institutions.”  –Ronald Reagan

“Our problem is a permanent structure of government insulated from the thinking and wishes of the people; a structure which for all practical purposes is more powerful than our elected representatives.  Only you and I can change that.  We must send Congress a mandate to restore government to the people.”  –Ronald Reagan

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” — Ronald Reagan

Is “Reaganism” dead?  There have been plenty of pundits who suggest that Republicans “move beyond” Reagan and come up with “fresh” ideas to capture voter’s imagination.  They point to the success of The One (Barack Obama) and say that we can’t continue to trot out the same, tired policy initiatives.

They’re wrong.  Reaganism is timeless, because it is based on the principles of our Founding Fathers, who based much of their principles on concepts dating back as much as 2,000 to 3,000+ years (think Moses of the Old Testament, and Plato, Socrates and Aristotle).  The principles of a representative, limited government are exactly what we need to be championing as conservatives today.

You want hope?  This is Ronald Reagan in 1981, as the nation dealt with a massive economic crisis:

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

You want change?  This is Ronald Reagan in 1967:

“Government is the people’s business, and every man, woman and child becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid. With all the profound wording of the Constitution, probably the most meaningful words are the first three: ‘We, the People.’ Those of us here today who have been elected to constitutional office or legislative position are in that three-word phrase. We are of the people, chosen by them to see that no permanent structure of government ever encroaches on freedom or assumes a power beyond that freely granted by the people. We stand between the taxpayer and the tax spender.”

Conservatism is about hope and change.  Conservatives have historically been the most optimistic of political animals, believing in individual ingenuity, self reliance, self discipline and free-markets.  Liberals don’t trust people to make their own decisions and believe that Government knows better how to run their lives than they do.  That’s not hope and change, that’s pessimism and servitude.

So what can we do, as conservatives, to move the country forward again, to find a winning message that will appeal to the masses?  We must return to the principles of freedom, free-markets, responsibility and hard work.  We must educate our neighbors about the history of this country, how we became the greatest nation on earth.  We must help people recognize that salvation does not come from more government, it comes from freedom.

Many will say that we have already lost the fight.  That it is too hard to convince enough people to care about the cause of freedom.  Reagan had an answer to that complaint:

“Don’t give up your ideals.  Don’t compromise.  Don’t turn to expediency.  And don’t…having seen the inner workings of the watch, don’t get cynical…. Don’t get cynical, because look at yourselves and what you are willing to do, and recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there who want what you want, who want it to be that way, who want it to be a shining city on a hill.”

            Yes, it is hard to defend freedom.  But many of us have never had to put our life in harm’s way to do so like so many millions of brave men and women have done for the last 235 years.  If we don’t work to defend freedom, to educate people, to voice a call to action, who will?

            Now is the time for us to renew ourselves in demonstrating that Republicans stand for real people. That the policies of less government intrusion, free-markets and personal responsibility are what made us the greatest nation on earth, and that we must ignite those passions again with millions of Americans so that we may remain “the shining city on a hill.”

“[G]overnment’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” –Ronald Reagan

“Don’t give up your ideals.  Don’t compromise.  Don’t turn to expediency.  And don’t…having seen the inner workings of the watch, don’t get cynical…. Don’t get cynical, because look at yourselves and what you are willing to do, and recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there who want what you want, who want it to be that way, who want it to be a shining city on a hill.” –Ronald Reagan

“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.” 

These were the words of pilgrim John Winthrop nearly 400 years ago.  Since that time, America has been the product of that vision, welcoming those who have yearned for freedom.

Our Founding Fathers recognized the unique nature of America when they signed their names to one of the most powerful documents in the history of mankind.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  The Declaration of Independence codified the vision Winthrop had of a city upon a hill.

 What makes the message of the Declaration of Independence so powerful is the promise of freedom and human rights for all people.  The Founders were not writing a document just for those in the American colonies, but for all people who sought liberty.  This promise of freedom, and the protection of the rights afforded us by our Creator, is what makes the United States the greatest nation on earth.

No other country provides so much opportunity to so many.  Rather than a system of government like the former Soviet Union, that people risked death to escape, we offer the protection of God-given rights that enables liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  It is a blessing worth dying to attain and defend.

 American history is one of determination and success.  For generations, people seeking a better life have left all behind in their home country and come to America.  In general, America has welcomed these new faces in the spirit of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” (“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus)

The history of immigration to America is not one in which the wealthy and successful uproot from their home and come here.  It is, as Emma Lazarus described, the poor, yearning to breathe free.  That is the greatness of the American dream – come here with nothing, and through hard work and dedication become productive and successful members of our free society.

America remains the place people want to come for a better life.  Unfortunately, our policies of the last few decades makes getting here legally a process which can take more than a decade, creating an incentive for people to come illegally.  This creates conflict for those who resent people who “cut in line.”  The conflict builds to the point that otherwise rational and generous people forget about America as an ideal.  Rather than embracing those willing to risk their lives to participate in the American dream, some shout that they “must go back.”

One of our nation’s greatest conservative leaders, Ronald Reagan, envisioned a different America than what some seem to want.  In his final address to the nation from the Oval office he spoke of the success of America as a place for all to come to enjoy freedom. 

“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it.  But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”

Yes, we are a nation of laws, but we must make sure the laws work, as Sen. Barry Goldwater said, “to maximize freedom.”  And to enact those laws we must be Americans: a welcoming, inviting people.  America can only remain great when its people recognize that those who are willing to risk all, even their life, are worthy inhabitants.  They embody the spirit of Winthrop, Jefferson and Reagan through their yearning for the full benefit of their God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Our obligation, as Americans, is to continue to be the shining city on a hill, lifting our lamp beside the golden door.