My Favorite Sites Pictures My Resume Favorite Quotes Contact Blog	Favorite Quotes Baseball Catholicism Miscellaneous Politics Reagan Reagan Page 2 Reagan Page 3 Reagan Page 4 Reagan Page 5 Religion in America Song Lyrics The Simpsons TV/Movie Quotes Reagan Page 4 The West won't contain Communism. It will transcend it. It will dismiss it as some bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written. Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself. America is too great for small dreams. We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free. We cannot play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent. Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead we changed a world. [I]n all that time I won a nickname, the 'Great Communicator.' But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: It was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation -- from our experience, our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries. They called it the Reagan Revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it always seemed like the Great Rediscovery -- a rediscovery of our values and our common sense. We have to keep in mind we are a nation under God, and if we ever forget that, we'll be just a nation under. Families must continue to be the foundation of our nation. Families -- not government programs -- are the best way to make sure our children are properly nurtured, our elderly are cared for, our cultural and spiritual heritages are perpetuated, our laws are observed and our values are preserved. Thus it is imperative that our government's programs, actions, officials and social welfare institutions never be allowed to jeopardize the family. We fear the government may be powerful enough to destroy our families; we know that it is not powerful enough to replace them. The New Republican Party must be committed to working always in the interest of the American family. There's no question I am an idealist, which is another way of saying I am an American. No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose. The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution. Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. I hope that when you're my age you'll be able to say, as I have been able to say: we lived in freedom; we lived lives that were a statement, not an apology. And I also remember something that Thomas Jefferson once said: 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that… Sometimes when I'm faced with an unbeliever, an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there's a cook. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter -- and they're on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs -- with faith in themselves and faith in an idea -- who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life. The best view of big government is in the rearview mirror as you're driving away from it. In most areas of governmental concern, the States uniquely possess the constitutional authority, the resources, and the competence to discern the sentiments of the people and to govern accordingly. The future belongs to the free. Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. I heard one presidential candidate say that what this country needed was a president for the nineties. I was set to run again. I thought he said a president IN his nineties. Don't be afraid to see what you see. My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose — somehow we win out. I will not exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience. Who can forget those so-called 'experts' who said our military buildup threatened a dangerous escalation of tensions? What kind of fool, they asked, would call the Soviet Union an 'Evil Empire'? We defend freedom here or it is gone. I have seen the rise and fall of Nazi tyranny, the subsequent cold war and the nuclear nightmare that for fifty years haunted the dreams of children everywhere. During that time my generation defeated totalitarianism. As a result, your world is poised for better tomorrows. What will you do on your journey? The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith. It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God's help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can't expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living. Communism is neither an economic or a political system -- it is a form of insanity -- a temporary aberration which will one day disappear from the earth because it is contrary to human nature. Status quo, you know, that is Latin for 'the mess we're in'. Are you entitled to the fruits of your own labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend? Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement… Those who created our country -- the Founding Fathers and Mothers -- understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. ... The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive. Federalism is rooted in the knowledge that our political liberties are best assured by limiting the size and scope of the national government. ... The people of the States created the national government when they delegated to it those enumerated governmental powers relating to matters beyond the competence of the individual States. ... All other sovereign powers, save those expressly prohibited the States by the Constitution, are reserved to the States or to the people. I've laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me...even if it's in the middle of a cabinet meeting. No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. To those who are fainthearted and unsure, I have this message: If you're afraid of the future, then get out of the way, stand aside. The people of this country are ready to move again. Who can forget those so-called 'experts' who said our military buildup threatened a dangerous escalation of tensions? What kind of fool, they asked, would call the Soviet Union an 'Evil Empire'? There's no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. Acts of the national government -- whether legislative, executive, or judicial in nature -- that exceed the enumerated powers of that government under the Constitution violate the principle of federalism established by the Framers. The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so. [W]e will never compromise our principles and standards. We will never give away our freedom. We will never abandon our belief in God. All great change in America begins at the dinner table. Regulations are like spores of a fungus -- they settle anywhere and everywhere and create more spores. Back to top
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