Ronald Reagan: A Time for Choosing Speech

 

    60 years ago, a young Ronald Reagan gave one of the best and most powerful speeches in the modern era of American politics. His words have stood the test of time and could very well apply today. Here is and excerpt from that speech. I hope you'll listen to it. 
    "This idea -- that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power -- is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. 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 capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves."     "You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream--the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.'"     "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So, we have come to a time for choosing." ~Ronald Reagan, Oct 27, 1964.     Happy Ronaldus Magnus day and 113th Birthday! You did alright for a small-town Illinois boy from Tampico, population 744.