Election 2012/Reagan's speeches

[261911]

So many things that President Reagan has stated in the past are still very relevant today in regards to the issues and circumstances surrounding us, and so I've decided to create a thread that addresses a number of these things.

[261911]

[261911]

[261911]

[261911]

Never before in our history have Americans been called upon to face three grave threats to our very existence, any one of which could destroy us. We face a disintegrating economy, a weakened defense and an energy policy based on the sharing of scarcity.

The major issue of this campaign is the direct political, personal and moral responsibility of Democratic Party leadership in the White House and in the Congress -- for this unprecedented calamity which has befallen us. They tell us they have done the most that humanly could be done. They say that the United States has had its day in the sun; that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems; that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities.

First, we must overcome something the present administration has cooked up - a new and altogether indigestible economic stew: one part inflation, one part high unemployment, one part recession, one part runaway taxes, one party deficit spending and seasoned by an energy crisis. It's an economic stew that has turned the national stomach.

Ours are not problems of abstract economic theory. Those are problems of flesh and blood; problems that cause pain and destroy the moral fiber of real people who should not suffer the further indignity of being told by the government that it is all somehow their fault.

-1980 RNC

History repeats itself.

[261911]

The choices this year are not just between two different personalities or between two political parties. They're between two different visions of the future, two fundamentally different ways of governing -- their government of pessimism, fear, and limits, or ours of hope, confidence, and growth.

Their government sees people only as members of groups; ours serves all the people of America as individuals. Theirs lives in the past, seeking to apply the old and failed policies to an era that has passed them by. Ours learns from the past and strives to change by boldly charting a new course for the future. Theirs lives by promises, the bigger, the better. We offer proven, workable answers.

-1984 RNC

And with that statement by President Reagan, Gov. Mitt Romney fittingly echoed those exact same sentiments.

[UB_S]

Originally Posted by 261911

So many things that President Reagan has stated in the past are still very relevant today...

So very true:

And is it not the big difference between the parties that points out who we (American's) are and why we are individuals and not part of government... - never has the contrast been as stark as now, where we have a blatant socialist running for re-election...



"You can call it mysticism if you want to, but I have always believed that there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage..."

"Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, 'We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us..."

"We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, 'The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.'

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth..."

Ronald Reagan
The Shining City Upon A Hill
January 25, 1974

"The greatness of America doesn't begin in Washington; it begins with each of you—in the mighty spirit of free people under God, in the bedrock values you live by each day in your families, neighborhoods, and work-places. Each of you is an individual worthy of respect, unique and important to the success of America. And only by trusting you, giving you opportunities to climb high and reach for the stars, can we preserve the golden dream of America as the champion of peace and freedom among the nations of the world..."

"In speaking tonight of America's traditional values and philosophy of government, we must remember the most distinctive mark of all in the American experience: To a tired and disillusioned world, we've always been a New World and, yes, a shining city on a hill where all things are possible.
Our alliances, the strength of our democratic system, the resolve of free people-all are beginning to hold sway in the world. We've helped nourish an enthusiasm that grows each day, a burning spirit that will not be denied: Mankind was born to be free. The tide of the future is a freedom tide.
This, then, is our historic task—it always has been—to present to the world an America that is not just strong and secure, but an America that has a cause and a vision of a future where all peoples can experience the warmth and hope of individual liberty..."

President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan: Address to the Nation on the Eve of the Presidential Election
The American Presidency Project
November 5, 1984

from:
Ronald Reagan Quotes on America: City Upon A Hill
http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/content/ronald-reagan-quotes-america-city-upon-hill

[261911]

Kind of skimmed through Reagan's address to the nation on the night before the election. Well, nice to see Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan "take a play out of President Reagan's playbook."