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[SIZE=3]"Our government officials continue to endorse, in general, economic interventionism, interventionist control of individuals, a careless disregard for our property rights, and an interventionist foreign policy. The ideas of liberty for the individual, freedom for the markets, both domestic and international, sound money, and a foreign policy of strategic independence based on strength are no longer popularly endorsed by our national leaders. Yet support by many Americans for these policies exists. The current conflict is over which view will prevail.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The concept of rights is rarely defined, since there is minimal concern for them as an issue in itself. Rights have become nothing more than the demands of special-interest groups to use government coercion to extract goods and services from one group for the benefit of another. The moral concept of one's natural right to life and liberty without being molested by State intervention in one's pursuit of happiness is all but absent in Washington. Carelessly the Congress has accepted the concept of "public interest" as being superior to "individual liberty" in directing their actions. But the "public" is indefinite and its definition varies depending on who and which special interest is defining it. It's used merely as an excuse to victimize one individual for the benefit of another. The dictatorship of the majority, now a reality, is our greatest threat to the concept of equal rights[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Careless disregard for liberty allows the government to violate the basic premise of a free society; there shall be no initiation of force by anyone, particularly government. Use of force for personal and national self-defense against initiators of violence is its only proper use in a moral and free society. Unfortunately this premise is rejected – and not even understood – in its entirety in Washington. The result is that we have neither a moral nor a free society.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Rejecting the notion that government should not coerce and force people to act against their wishes prompts Congress to assume the role of central economic and social planner. Government is used for everything from subsidized farming to protecting cab monopolies; from the distribution of food stamps to health care; from fixing the price of labor to fixing the price of gasoline. Always the results are the same, opposite to what was intended: chaos, confusion, inefficiency, additional costs and lines.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]The more that is spent on housing or unemployment problems, the worse the housing and unemployment problems become. Proof that centralized economic planning always fails, regardless of the good intentions behind it, is available to us. It is tragic that we continue to ignore it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Our intervention and meddling to satisfy the powerful well-heeled special interests have created a hostile atmosphere, a vicious struggle for a shrinking economic pie distributed by our ever-growing inefficient government bureaucracy. Regional class, race, age and sex disputes polarize the nation. This probably will worsen until we reject the notion that central planning works.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]As nations lose respect for liberty, so too do they lose respect for individual responsibility. Laws are passed proposing no-fault insurance for injuries for which someone in particular was responsible. Remote generations are required to pay a heavy price for violations of civil liberties that occurred to the blacks, to the Indians, and to Japanese-Americans. This is done only at the expense of someone else's civil liberties and in no way can be justified[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Collective rights – group fights, in contrast to individual rights – prompt laws based on collective guilt for parties not responsible for causing any damage. The Superfund is a typical example of punishing innocent people for damages caused by government /business. Under a system of individual rights where initiation of force is prohibited, this would not occur.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Short-run solutions enhance political careers and motivate most legislation in Washington, to the country's detriment. Apparent economic benefits deceive many Members into supporting legislation that in the long run is devastating to the economy. Politics unfortunately is a short-run game – the next election. Economics is a long-run game and determines the prosperity and the freedoms of the next generation. Sacrificing future wealth for present indulgence is done at the expense of liberty for the individual."[/SIZE]
The best political speech of all time is short, precise, and attributed to an American Indian (either real or fiction);
"White man speak with forked tongue!"
The best political speech of all time is short, precise, and attributed to an American Indian (either real or fiction);
"White man speak with forked tongue!"
Reagan speech in 1964 which still applies today. I most importantly want Americans to remember who we are, what liberty is and how we must at all costs save ourselves from our government. I have chopped up the speech to drive home the facts of the speech. A Government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away.
Miller Center of Public Affairs - Ronald Reagan Speeches (http://millercenter.org/scripps/digitalarchive/speechDetail/32 - broken link)
Listening to it makes me understand why Reagan is viewed by Conservatives the way he is. It wasn't really an endorsement of Goldwater, it was a speech about how Liberalism as defined in 1964 was incapable of producing the results promised. It's a great speech, especially if you listen to Reagan's own voice.
Even though I was only 9 when Reagan took office, I remember watching his State of the Union addresses with my grandmother. I LOVED listening to him talk. Even though I really didn't understand a lot of it until later. He was just an AWESOME man all the way around and very fine President. Too bad we don't have people of his caliber running anymore.
Reagan speech in 1964 which still applies today. I most importantly want Americans to remember who we are, what liberty is and how we must at all costs save ourselves from our government. I have chopped up the speech to drive home the facts of the speech. A Government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away.
Reagan speech in 1964 which still applies today. I most importantly want Americans to remember who we are, what liberty is and how we must at all costs save ourselves from our government. I have chopped up the speech to drive home the facts of the speech. A Government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away.
Damn, LibertyandJustice, I see you beat me to it. This speech to me is the best I've ever heard. I think it proved to be the catalyst for Reagan's ascension 12 years later.
MLK - "Mountaintop" on the Eve of his Assassination
Abe Lincoln "Gettysburg Address"
I agree, these were all great speeches. Obama's speech yesterday was nowhere close to being of the same caliber. And the delivery was lackluster, and how the speech was spoken in an important factor in how a speech is graded. In fact, I was thinking that I wouldn't want Obama being my defense lawyer and delivering the closing arguments. There was just no passion in yesterday's speech.
In addition, how much of Obama's speech was written by him? How much was written by his speechwriters like David Axelrod or perhaps he got more help from Deval Patrick. Obama's whole campaign is built on carefully written rhetoric and is an artificial as any great Hollywood movie production. I love Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford and Al Pacino on the silver screen, but I also know that it's the characters they play that I love, and not them in real life. It's those talented screenwriters and directors that make them so charismatic.
And who wouldn't want a president like Josiah Barlet in The West Wing? Or what about Jed Marshall in the movie Air Force One? But no way would I actually vote for Martin Sheen or Harrison Ford for president in real life. But in the movies, they sure seem like they make amazing presidents.
Quote:
They also share an important friend, Democratic consultant David Axelrod, a political wordsmith and admaker who helped Patrick become governor of Massachusetts and who is now a key player in the run for president by Obama, a senator from Illinois.
"with malice towards none, and charity towards all..."
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Reagan Time For Choosing
