Honoring our nation’s presidents in February has been a tradition in America for a long time. Though the focus has been mostly on Washington and Lincoln, I thought it appropriate and timely to honor another who was born this month. I am including excerpts from two of his speeches which are still very relevant for us today. Ronald Wilson Reagan, America’s 40th president (1981-1989), was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois.
After graduating from Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois in 1932, Reagan started a career in radio. He became an actor in motion pictures in 1937, and then moved on to television in 1954. He was also President of the Screen Actors Guild for 5 terms between 1947 and 1960. Reagan began his career on the national political scene in 1962, which is when he changed parties. His reasons were philosophical and based on deep convictions rooted in history and American conservatism. In his own words, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.”
Fifty-five years ago, during the presidential election cycle of 1964, Reagan delivered a speech entitled “A Time for Choosing.” In this speech, he stated “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 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 that 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.”
In another speech, Reagan further demonstrated his understanding of America’s founding principles and touched on a timely subject. “There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism — government.”
Reagan also understood the importance of personal responsibility in preserving the republic bequeathed to us in 1787. “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.”
About Author
Jeri Pearson
Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.
More Stories
Reflections from History and Faith:
My Pulse Hogspore News
Hogspore News: