Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thirty years Ago Today, A great Man Had Something To Say To His Fellow Americans
President Reagan's First Inaugural Address.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? ....
We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the states or to the people.
All of us -- all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.
Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.
Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.
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're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline ....
It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.
Funny how appropriate those words are today,isn't it?
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6 comments:
little things.........
30 years ago california voted for reagan.
30 years ago china didn't own as much of our debt. they actually didn't begin doing that until '88 i believe.
30 years ago we still had manufacturing jobs.
30 years ago buying an import meant getting something of lesser quality.
30 years ago the people of this nation weren't dumber than a sack of hair.
there are a lot of other little things to consider.
so the question is, as president reagan's words are presently so appropriate, could ronald reagan be elected today?
time will tell.
The original poster is right--his words DO reflect today. The social and economic nightmare that is our shared experience is probably just how his senile brain hoped it would become: an oligarchy of criminals with his friends running the show.
Reagan was an unmitigated disaster for this country. ALL of the ills found in this crumbling empire today have his doddering fingerprints on them.
I'm so glad a gutless, anonymous coward like you chose to unleash some bile at a great man. And how classy to mock him for suffering from a disease he contracted after serving this country so well!
One thing, since you feel that this is a 'crumbling empire' run by an 'an oligarchy of criminals', why ever would you want to stay here? It's a big world,boyo and I'm sure there are loads of countries just begging for you to grace them with your presence.Man up and act on your principles and beliefs, Anonymous.I 'll applaud you for it.
Just one thing...take the rock with you when you go, so you'll still have someplace to crawl under and live in your new home.
Regards,
Rob
The sad irony is the government of today is even bigger and more obtusive than the one that Mr, Reagan faced when he came into office. If we are ever to get out of the current economic mess we are in, we need to do the following at a minimum. 1.)Lose about 99.5% of the governemnt regulations tying us down. 2.)Steeply cut taxes. I'm not talking about just the paultry Bush tax cuts but STEEP CUTS like say by 95% or more. We need to make alot of money and we need to make alot of money NOW. The only way to do this is to get this government OUT OF THE WAY and get it out of the way NOW!! Once we do this, American manufacturing interests might be actually able to "come home." As it is right now, even if American laborers worked for free, American companies could not afford to manufacture much in America. The regulatory environment makes it impossible to do so. Lose the regulations and lower the taxes and maybe just maybe we can be competitive.
In answe to Louie's quesion can Mr. Regaen be elected today. I'd say it is unlikely he could.
Not only do I think Mr. Reagan could not be elected today. With the current people in charge of the GOP I don't even think he could get the nomination today.
Part of living in a democracy is that you have to have faith that your fellow countrymen will do the right thing - eventually.
Selah,
Rob
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