On American government

"Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite."

--Ronald Reagan

True today

"I believe the biggest threat is big government, but it is supported by and feeds on big labor, and I fear that there are those in business who see a chance at monopoly, whether they use the word or not, if they go along with big government. I'm afraid the fight is never-ending, but we must continue."

-- Ronald Reagan

On the economic downturn

"For forty years or more this country has been following the lute song of the liberals. Suddenly, when they came undone with their planned economy, their deficit spending, and their deliberately planned inflation, which they said would maintain prosperity, how the hell do conservatives get blamed?"

-- Ronald Reagan

Applies to our current crisis, as well.

Action . . . now

“I believe that the people you and I represent are ready to chart a new course. They look to us to meet the great challenge, to reach beyond the commonplace and not fall short for lack of creativity or courage... We can restore our economic strength and build opportunities like none we’ve ever had before. As Carl Sandburg said, all we need to begin with is a dream that we can do better than before. All we need to have is faith, and that dream will come true. All we need to do is act, and the time for action is now.”

— Ronald Reagan

[Via the Patriot Post.]

On modern mores and the family

"But I do know that we've swallowed what I'd call the "Dr. Spock syndrome," wherein we question our own values and whether we have a right to impose our beliefs on our children. And in doing so, we've weakened the family."

-- Ronald Reagan

[All of today's Reagan quotes are from Paul Smith Jr.'s site, paulsmithjr.com.]

On social programs

"You know, I think the best social program is a job."

-- Ronald Reagan

On some economists

"A friend of mine was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist."

-- Ronald Reagan

On FDR's Democrat platform

"I didn't desert my party. It deserted me. I looked up FDR's old platform, and I discovered that it called for a restoration of state's rights and a reduction in the national budget. You know what? I'm still for that."

-- Ronald Reagan

Our choice

“Ultimately, the choice before the American people is the choice between two visions: on the one hand, the policies of limited government, economic growth, a strong defense, and a firm foreign policy; and on the other hand, policies of tax and spend, economic stagnation, international weakness and accommodation, and always, always, from them, ‘Blame America first.’ It’s the choice between the policies of liberalism or the policies of America’s political mainstream.”

— Ronald Reagan

[Via The Patriot Post.]

On defense

"Our enemies may be irrational, even outright insane, driven by nationalism, religion, ethnicity, or ideology. They do not fear the United States for its diplomatic skills or the number of automobiles and software programs it produces. They respect only the firepower of our tanks, planes, and helicopter gunships."

-- Ronald Reagan

On the economy and politics

"The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people, and they knew that 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

Parenting for the future

"I don't think it's necessary to win a popularity contest with your kids, and especially not while they're kids. Parents should be more concerned with what their kids will think of them when they reach thirty. Or, more importantly, what their kids will think of themselves. Most of us, when we look back over our lives and our reactions to our parents, discover that today we accept and are grateful for things we rebelled against at the age of fifteen or twenty."

-- Ronald Reagan

[Via Paul Smith.]

Education or indoctrination?

"There is a growing tendency for schools and even some churches to challenge the mores and values of parents, to encourage a young person to develop his own ideas and standards. That's healthy only if the young person already has the maturity of having accepted and lived with a set of values in his own family. Otherwise he is likely to fall victim to the first doctrinaire teacher or minister who gets to him, just to maintain a sense of security. That's when education becomes indoctrination."

-- Ronald Reagan

[Via Paul Smith.]

America's legacy

“When World War II ended, the United States had the only undamaged industrial power in the world. Our military might was at its peak, and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear weapon, with the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination then, who could have opposed us? But the United States followed a different course, one unique in all the history of mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravished economies of the world, including those of the nations who had been our enemies. May I say, there is absolutely no substance to charges that the United States is guilty of imperialism or attempts to impose its will on other countries, by use of force.”

— Ronald Reagan

Raising kids

"I don't think it's necessary to win a popularity contest with your kids, and especially not while they're kids. Parents should be more concerned with what their kids will think of them when they reach thirty. Or, more importantly, what their kids will think of themselves. Most of us, when we look back over our lives and our reactions to our parents, discover that today we accept and are grateful for things we rebelled against at the age of fifteen or twenty."

"I don't feel that a family should cling to its young to the point that they're reluctant ever to leave the nest. Quite the contrary, I think the whole duty of parents is to bring their children up with a sense of values to the point where, with confidence, they can throw them out of the nest and start them on their way."

-- Ronald Reagan

Appeasement

"The spectre our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face is that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and appeasement does not give you a choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender."

-- Ronald Reagan

Infantile

"Government is like a baby -- an alimentary canal with a big appetite on one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

-- Ronald Reagan

On the need to get back to a basic truth

"We are told God is dead. Well, He isn't. We just can't talk to Him in the classroom anymore."

-- Ronald Reagan

Obamacracy?

"The other day, someone told me the difference between a democracy and a people's democracy. It's the difference between a jacket and a straitjacket."

-- Ronald Reagan

Original charter

"The American dream that we have nursed for so long in this country, and lately neglected, is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become."

-- Ronald Reagan