Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Real Speech with Principle by a Real American

Ronald Reagan

A Time for Choosing (aka "The Speech")

Air date 27 October 1964, Los Angeles, CA

This is the issue of this election: whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down: [up] man's old -- old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course....

Well, I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me, the free men and women of this country, as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government" -- this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy....

Yet anytime you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as being against their humanitarian goals. They say we're always "against" things -- we're never "for" anything.

Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so....

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So, governments' programs, once launched, never disappear.

Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth....

Now it doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed to the -- or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? And such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.

Our Democratic opponents seem unwilling to debate these issues. They want to make you and I believe that this is a contest between two men -- that we're to choose just between two personalities....

While reflecting on these solid principles from 1964, you might think that they will return and things really haven't changed. But you might keep in mind the following:

1. The House is headed by Speaker Pelosi. with a substantial Liberal margin.

2. The Senate is headed by Senate Reid with a substantial Liberal margin.

3. The Courts are Liberal except there is a balanced/Liberal leaning Supreme Court which is controlled by a single vote in many cases.

4. The New President is extremely Liberal and doesn't respect the Constitution as shown by not confirming his qualification to be President.

5. The Media is controlled by Liberals and will become more aggressive, if possible.

6. Liberal Soros controls the Money in both Political Parties and is a proponent of World (Soros) Government, free drugs, and open borders.

7. The Constitution is being ignored by "President" Obama and will continue to be ignored now that HE is the enforcement vehicle.

8. Foreign Governments (Enemies) see this as an opportunity through the U.N. to reduce the influence of the U.S., and the Liberals chambers agree.

9. Illegal Immigration and Acorn Type Tactics have dissolved the credibility of Elections for Citizens of the United States of America. They will now just be legalized to remove the Illegal and open the flood gates to the masses.

10. The biggest problem of all is that there is no Conservative Champion that has the belief, vision, and ability to educate the uninformed and misinformed people of this Great Country to the value and importance of limited government and individual responsibility for their freedom and future, as Ronald Reagan believed and communicated.

'"the full power of centralized government" -- this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize.'

Have we finally lost the vision and wisdom of the Founding Fathers in spite of all the evidence and greatness The United States of America has demonstrated to The World.

Events like today certainly support that we have.

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