Peggy reminded us in comments today that its the 103rd anniversary of Ronald Reagans birth. She recommends celebrating today by viewing Reagan’s A Time for Choosing speech.
Ronald Reagan was called “The Great Communicator” because he was a master at articlulating his ideas in a way that captivated the people…people all across the globe. He inspired and encouraged people living under tyrannical government to throw off the chains and establish free nations. He inspired Americans and others around the world to follow their dreams and aspirations, to tap into what he called the “entrepreneurial spirit. Our nation prospered under his leadership with a sense of confidence and enthusiasm restored after the malaise experienced in the preceeding decade.
Reagan’s words still resonate and continue to be fitting today. We can read some of the many speeches Reagan gave at the Reagan Foundation site. Find books about this great American here.
A few Ronald Reagan Quotes:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.
The government’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.
Feel free to add some of your favorites. Young people expecially would be supported and inspired by getting to know this wonderful American.
Correction…add two more candles to that cake….I did!
“It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.”
“How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”
“Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.”
“Government’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.”
“With me, abortion is not a problem of religion, it’s a problem of the Constitution. I believe that until and unless someone can establish that the unborn child is not a living human being, then that child is already protected by the Constitution, which guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all of us.”
“At the root of everything that we’re trying to accomplish is the belief that America has a mission. We are a nation of freedom, living under God, believing all citizens must have the opportunity to grow, create wealth, and build a better life for those who follow. If we live up to those moral values, we can keep the American dream alive for our children and our grandchildren, and America will remain mankind’s best hope.”
“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.”
“Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”
“A taxpayer is someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take a civil-service exam.”
“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”
“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
“If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.”
“One legislator accused me of having a nineteenth-century attitude on law and order. That is a totally false charge. I have an eighteenth-century attitude. That is when the Founding Fathers made it clear that the safety of law-abiding citizens should be one of the government’s primary concerns.”
“I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.”
“Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”
Happy Birthday Sir!