Reagan: Still the Great Communicator

Last week I happened to read some excerpts from a speech Ronald Reagan gave in 1964. It's a classic, called "A Time for Choosing" or sometimes "A Rendezvous with Destiny." He made the speech while on the campaign trail for Barry Goldwater (he actually gave it a more than once, in slightly different versions). I was amazed at how many of the things he said still ring true in this election. Here's a few choice quotes:

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

Small-government conservative vs. big-government liberal, right there. Personally I think the sad part is how few conservatives are still for small government.

Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as "meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government." Well, I for one resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me--the free man and woman of this country--as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government"--this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.

Seems to me those thoughts still apply to any number of liberal programs, from health care to welfare to the mortgage issues at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Never forget that those who want to expand the reach of the government are ultimately expanding their control over your life. Reagan says in the speech that the government doesn't have to actually take your property to be socialist; it just has to be able to control your property.

He has some thoughts on foreign policy too. Remember, this was at the very beginning of the Vietnam War and the height of the Cold War.

Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. 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 upon what we know in our hearts is morally right. We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion now in slavery behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skin, we are willing to make a deal with your slave masters." Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one." Let's set the record straight. There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace--and you can have it in the next second--surrender.

Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face--that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand--the ultimatum.

Substitute Islamic fundamentalism for the Iron Curtain and communism, and you could apply this almost word-for-word today. Did you catch this line: "And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers." Isn't that essentially what a lot of Democrats say about Islam? It's all our fault and if we get our soldiers out of the Middle East they won't be mad at us any more? And that Alexander Hamilton quote is money; it's why we can't leave Iraq without a stable government and military.

In my opinion, these are the important principles that are hopefully still the foundation of the conservative movement today. These are things you should think about in this election, in our own "time for choosing." It's important to think about why we believe in small government, strong defense, and all those other good conservative causes. If you want to read the whole speech you can find it here. (And hats off to Townhall Magazine, which is where I read it in the first place and which regularly reprints "Conservative Classics.")

Freedom Isn't Free

OK, I know it's a bumper-sticker cliche. But it's still true. The freedoms we have in this country, freedom of speech, worship, association, the press, the right to bear arms--they were all won and preserved at a high cost. And we have to continue to protect those freedoms today.

Here's an excerpt from a really good post on protecting our freedom. You should definitely read it all:

For those of you have yet to see 300, do yourselves a favor and see it. (Warning: Spoiler Alert if you read the whole linked post.)

This movie is not just about the past. It's about today. Right now.

It's about each one of you who stands in the breach against the enemy.

And it's about each one of you who stands against the enemy within, who would happily widen that breach.

Today's enemy is Islamofascism, but it is little different from the hordes following the tyrannical King Xerxes.

Today's enemy within is the left, both at home and across the globe. And they too are little different from the scheming legislator Theron and the vile Ephori, who were willing--even eager--to see all Sparta kneel before Xerxes, just to gain power.

How is the left today any different? Do they not see their own nation, their own people, their own military as the enemy? Do they not seek to withdraw us from the field, to give the enemy the day?

And just as Sparta was the lynchpin that defended all Greece--that great cradle of democracy--is not the United States today the last bastion of freedom defending Western civilization?

But what care the left for Western civilization? They HATE Western civilization. They hate the men and women who defend it. They hate themselves.

It's a great read, maybe put a little strongly but with some very good points about the value of freedom, about the need to protect our civilization against tyranny. (Please note, though, that I'm not necessarily recommending actually seeing the movie. I haven't seen it, and I think it's pretty violent, so you should definitely make that decision for yourself based on how you feel about that kind of content. But it sounds like a really good story!)

Top War Correspondent Releases New Book on Iraq

Michael Yon’s new book Moments of Truth In Iraq has just been released. Check it out.

Success in Iraq does not bode well for Democrats

Just like with the Vietnam War in the late 60's and early 70's, the Democrats have always tried to paint the dimmest of pictures regarding the war in Iraq. This emphasis served nothing more than a political smoke screen. The liberals will try anything to distract people from the central issues facing our nation. In a rare glimmer of the truth by the MSM, Tom Foreman reveals this fact in an article posted today on CNN.com:

Iraq is certainly not at peace, but it is undeniably much more peaceful than it was. And Democrats, it appears, desperately hope that American voters will not notice. Because if voters accept that Iraq is improving, perhaps they will no longer accept the idea that the Republicans need to be driven out of Washington.

And if the Holocaust of legal murder known as abortion is going to be stopped, it will only come through the appointment of Supreme Court justices by a Republican president.

Another Sign That The Surge Is Working

Peace is finally becoming more of a regular occurrence in the streets of Baghdad. Consequently, Iraqi citizens are saying “thank you!” to the American people. That’s what embedded news journalist Michael Yon is hearing on the ground in Baghdad. He highlights one emotional moment, where “men and women, both Christians and Muslims, [were witnessed] placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad.”

Major Success Occurring In Iraq

This is definitely worth watching. (5 minutes 42 seconds)

click here >>

Repeating History: Dancing with the Devil

Some Christians say that theology doesn't apply to real life. Here's a case in point that refutes such naïveté.

All on the left of the American political spectrum – and, unfortunately, far too many on the right – think man is basically good. We’re all “sinners,” most agree, but “deep down inside, we are all basically good people.” This view of humanity is aptly called Pelagianism (or Semi-Pelagianism). Interestingly enough, it was the most condemned heresy in Church history. (Not anymore; sadly, we openly embrace it in our churches across America today.) What follows from such empty thinking (Colossians 2:8) in our foreign affairs is the idea that if we just reason with these people (Osama, Hitler) then we will all come to an understanding with each other and can broker peace. Incidently, this is the same approach taken by liberal bureaucrats towards hardened criminals in our prisons. ("They can change" they say with their Oprah worldview. “Impossible!” I say, that is, unless God chooses to do a miraculous work in them.)

Oh, how foolish this approach to evil is! Chamberlain took such an appeasement approach with Hitler. "Peace for our time" the British Prime Minister glibly proclaimed back in 1938. Hitler just smiled and kept on trucking across Europe. Instead of less men dying to stop the German machine by taking proactive steps against the threat, our Allied hesitations, later on led to many more soldiers dying in WWII. (FYI: Almost 10,000 American soldiers died on the beaches of Normandy in one day. Around 3,500 American soldiers have died at this point in the 4 1/2 years of fighting in Iraq.)

I'm afraid we are repeating history. It looks like we are now living in the fall of 1938, as our leaders and media elite continue to ask for one more dance with the devil.

Counting the Cost for the Preservation of Freedom

With Memorial Day just behind us, and the 63rd anniversary of D-Day just days away, I thought it apropos to reflect briefly on what took place in western Europe in the summer of 1944. What began on the beaches of France on the morning of June 6th, and stretched to the River Seine, the Battle of Normandy, as it became known, was the largest offensive waged by Allied forces against Nazism in Europe.

While victory in Europe was insured by this assault, it did not come without a tremendous cost. When the Battle of Normandy ended on August 25, 1944, a total of 29,000 American G.I.s were dead, along with 11,000 British and 5,000 Canadian soldiers. In order to put this into perspective, by comparison, the fighting in Iraq over the last four years has resulted in deaths of 3,487 American soldiers, along with 276 of those from other coalition forces. (source)

We will never forget! (video)

What PBS doesn’t want you to see.

Watch a Hotair.com interview with Frank Gaffney about the taxpayer-funded film that PBS continues to suppress. watch here

Other links:

FreeTheFilm.net
Center For Security Policy