A Time For Choosing

While on Pinterest this evening, I ran across a quote that was attributed to Ronald Reagan.  He was an eloquent and powerful speaker, so I wanted to learn more about where and when the quote originated.  From what I can gather, the only thing accurate about the Pinterest quote was the title. 

 

In October 1964, Reagan gave a televised speech endorsing Barry Goldwater for President.  A Time For Choosing was this speech.  Given fifty two years ago, so much of this is valid, maybe even more so, today.

 

You can read the speech here or watch the video below.  The thirty minutes it lasts is very much worth your time.

 

 

"For three decades, we've sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.  The latest is the Area Redevelopment Agency.

They've just declared Rice County, Kansas, a depressed area. Rice County, Kansas, has two hundred oil wells, and the 14,000 people there have over 30 million dollars on deposit in personal savings in their banks.  And when the government tells you you're depressed, lie down and be depressed."

 

* * * *

 

"Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." 

 

* * * *

"No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.  So, governments' programs, once launched, never disappear.

Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth."

 

 * * * *

 

"Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment."

 

* * * *

 

"They say we offer simple answers to complex problems.  Well, perhaps there is a simple answer -- not an easy answer -- but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right."

 

 AMDG