30 Days of Reagan - Day 30

I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 29

The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend against aggression — to preserve freedom and peace.

My Take - Our defense policy ought to pretty much state "We're not afraid to come home covered in blood, so long as most of it's not ours.".  Our defenses should be strong enough and our responses to provocation and attack ruthless enough that anyone who considers harming a hair on the head of any American does it knowing that the world is about to fall in on them.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 28

My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

My Take - Never miss a chance to make your adversaries worry that you just might be a little insane.  It keeps them guessing and makes you unpredictable.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 27

Liberals fought poverty and poverty won.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 26

We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them — this morning, as they prepared for their journey, and waved good-bye, and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

30 Days of Reagan - Day 25

It's true hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?

My Take - Sounds like a good plan for the weekend to me!

30 Days of Reagan - Day 24

Well I've said it before and I'll say it again — America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 23

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 22

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 21

"We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us.

My Take - This opinion, of course, assumes that we can still vote our way out of this.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 20

And we are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich […] There can be no place on earth where it is safe for these monsters to rest,or train or practice their cruel and deadly. We must act together – or unilaterally, if necessary – to ensure that these terrorists have no sanctuary, anywhere."

My Take - President Reagan said these words in reference to rogue states such as Libya and North Korea, but his words 16 years before September 11 were prophetic, but ignored by succeeding administrations.  Those who want to bring the craziness of the rest of the world to our shores need to know that our reaction will be fast, violent and brutal.  We also need to be proactive to find and eliminate threats before they reach our shore.  That's why I support a reduction of our foreign involvement, but not a complete dismantlement of our world-wide defense strategy.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 19

Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 18

The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

30 Days of Reagan - Day 16

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

My Take - Pretty much says it all. Government does not create wealth, and it cannot lift people out of poverty.  Government does best when it stays out of our way. We clean up the messes, build the economy, and care for one another faster, more effectively, and less expensively than when the government gets involved.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 17

How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 15

Above all, we must realize that 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.

My take:  What's in your pocket, on your hip, in the safe, sitting on your desk, or buried next to the old oak tree in the back yard isn't the weapon.  It's you, your skills, and your motivations that matter. You, as a free man or woman, can choose to live free, follow just laws, and stand up against injustice and tyranny.  Or you can choose to be a slave or vassal, be a predator upon the weak and undefended, or turn your head when you see others being abused.  I hope that I have the strength to be the former, and to resist the latter.  Either way, it's your choice, but the tools you choose are not what makes you dangerous or strong.  They are only what you choose to use.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 14

Recognizing the equality of all men and women, we are willing and able to lift the weak, cradle those who hurt, and nurture the bonds that tie us together as one nation under God.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 13

Abraham Lincoln freed the black man. In many ways, Dr. King freed the white man. How did he accomplish this tremendous feat? Where others — white and black — preached hatred, he taught the principles of love and nonviolence. We can be so thankful that Dr. King raised his mighty eloquence for love and hope rather than for hostility and bitterness. He took the tension he found in our nation, a tension of injustice, and channeled it for the good of America and all her people.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 12

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

30 Days of Reagan - Day 11

History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

My take:  This is one of the reasons I favor veterans when it comes to voting.  Someone who has never had to do funeral detail has no idea the human cost of going to war, even if it's justified.  They also sometimes don't see the military as a group of human beings, but as more of a monolithic "other".  Not saying that there are no good non-veteran politicians or that all politicians who are veterans are good leaders, but I just have a recognized bias towards someone who has that experience.

Update - OK, that was a mangling.  I've corrected my horrendous paragraph a bit.