XPost: alt.fan.ronald-reagan, alt.politics.conservative, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism

https://thefederalist.com/2024/10/28/sixty-years-later-reagans-a-time-for- choosing-speech-casts-enduring-vision-of-conservatism-and-freedom/

Three score years ago this Sunday, one of the seminal moments in modern American politics occurred in the service of a presidential campaign that
would suffer a resounding defeat. Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” broadcast endorsing Barry Goldwater’s unsuccessful candidacy did far more
than herald Reagan’s arrival on the national stage. Somewhat paradoxically given its title, Reagan’s speech holds a principled timelessness that
makes it as relevant today as it was six decades ago.

Clear, Relevant Words
For all the derision so-called elites directed toward a star of movies
like “Bedtime for Bonzo,” Ronald Reagan could craft and communicate words
with lasting effect. Crisp, clear phrases in his speech — “You and I have
a rendezvous with destiny” — echo through the years in a way that few
current politicians can match. No inane pablum about being “unburdened by
what has been” in this address.

Reagan’s description of the issues facing Americans in 1964 continues to instruct in the present. At a time of trillion-dollar deficits, the
federal government spending far more than it takes in still gives the “uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn’t something on which we
can base our hopes for the future.” Reagan’s discussion of the hollowness
of the Social Security Trust Fund, and the pernicious effects of
inflation, resonates with seniors worried about the future of entitlements
and families struggling to make ends meet. And stories of government inefficiency — “we bought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives
for Kenya[n] government officials” — echo the waste and fraud Americans observed during Democrats’ pandemic spending spree.

Policies Grounded in First Principles
But “A Time for Choosing” gives witness most powerfully by outlining the principles conservatives value and that all Americans should cherish. Most politicians try to remain in power by salami-slicing the electorate
through grubby vote-buying exercises — a new tax break here, an expansion
of a program there. But in quoting Churchill that “the destiny of man is
not measured by material computations,” Reagan provides a better example, speaking to Americans on a higher plane.

“A Time for Choosing” lays out a principled vision — one of a free,
sovereign nation where the people run the government, rather than the
other way around — that Reagan identifies as simple, but not easy. In his
eyes, and in the minds of many conservatives, that vision faces two key challenges. From within, a “little intellectual elite in a far-distant
capital” fails to appreciate that “a government can’t control the economy without controlling people.” From without, leftists’ solution of “peace
without victory” jeopardizes the nation’s security in the face of
totalitarian aggression, because “there’s only one guaranteed way you can
have peace — and you can have it in the next second — surrender.”

Those principles faced constant challenge in Reagan’s lifetime, as it does
in our own. In highlighting comments by Senator J. William Fulbright, D-
Ark., complaining about the “restrictions of power imposed” on the
president by an “antiquated” Constitution, Reagan could just have easily referred to Franklin Roosevelt’s not-too-subtle references to martial law
in his first inaugural address, or court-packing and myriad other power
grabs proposed by the 21st-century left. And his reference to “a billion
human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain” applies equally today
to those brutalized by an oppressive Chinese Communist regime.

Lessons in Leadership
Reagan was not religiously observant, but he deeply believed the American people would respond to reason and choose the better course. In 1964, he
said that Goldwater “has faith that you and I have the ability and the
dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own
destiny” because he held the same faith himself. He would hold that faith
to the end, writing as he retired from public life that “when the Lord
calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love
for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.”

“A Time for Choosing” provides lessons in leadership inside and outside
the Beltway. For conservatives across the land, a vision of freedom that
stands the test of time. For elected officials, an example to emulate —
set policies based on first principles, explain them in clear prose, and believe in the goodness of the American people to answer the call. A
timeless legacy, encapsulated in a 27-minute speech.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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