Ronald Reagan Speech - 1964 Republican National Convention
"A TIME FOR CHOOSING"; A "RENDEZVOUS WITH DESTINY"
Forty Five years ago today (thanks for the reminder, Rush), Ronald Reagan gave the speech that changed everything. Reagan's speech, sometimes called "A Time for Choosing," or "A Rendezvous With Destiny," given during Barry Goldwater's campaign at the Republican National Convention in 1964, was part inspirational, part prophetic (see below), timeless in wisdom, and a stern warning about the government's infringement upon our freedoms.
His words may be even more applicable today than they were then. Socialized Medicine is even more of a possibility, Social Security is in even worse shape, and government controls even more of our lives.
Unlike those times, however, the dangers were mostly outside the United States. Today, we have a Communist (and part Fascist) President who's surrounded himself with a Communist cabinet, and dozens of Communist "Czars."
If you haven't watched Reagan's speech that defined conservatism for a generation, I urge you in the strongest way to take a few minutes and watch the entire video. If you've already seen it; watch it again! Below, for emphasis, I've listed a few excerpts from the speech that I think are particularly applicable to the times we currently live in.
REAGAN ON SOCIALIZED MEDICINE (IN 1964!)
Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last.
ON GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE ECONOMY...
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.
GOVERNMENT'S SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS: THROW MONEY AT THEM, AND GIVE THEM MORE POWER OVER OUR LIVES:
Public servants say, always with the best of intentions,"What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.
DOESN'T THIS SOUND LIKE THE PARTY OF "NO":
Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we're always "against," never "for" anything.
REAGAN ON SOCIAL SECURITY:
We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem. However, we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments....
REAGAN ON TAXES:
We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him.... But we can not have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure....
AMERICA'S FUTURE, A CHOICE:
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.
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