STATE OF THE UNION – Reagan Speaks Then to Our Day
Posted on 25. Jan, 2011 by jamespratt in All Posts, Featured, James Pratt, Man of Principle, Reagan Quotes, Reagan Revolution, Uncategorized, What Would Reagan Do?
Final STATE OF THE UNION Jan. 25, 1988. Reviewed by James Michael Pratt Op Ed writer http://dailycaller.com/ & Founder Reagan Revolution 2
You only have to review history for a solution to the pressing problems we face under leadership which looks everywhere but history for answers. Our 40th President put things simple in his 1988 State of the Union speech. No need for me to expound or try to dress up his meaning. Imagine if Congress had listened to Mr. Reagan and taken him seriously twenty-three years ago. Here’s a sample:
FISCAL DUTY: “Now, it’s also time for some plain talk about the most immediate obstacle to controlling Federal deficits. The simple but frustrating problem of making expenses match revenues–something American families do and the Federal Government can’t–has caused crisis after crisis in this city. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, I will say to you tonight what I have said before and will continue to say: The budget process has broken down; it needs a drastic overhaul. With each ensuing year, the spectacle before the American people is the same as it was this Christmas: budget deadlines delayed or missed completely, monstrous continuing resolutions that pack hundreds of billions of dollars worth of spending into one bill, and a Federal Government on the brink of default.”
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: “In international relations, too, there’s only one description for what, together, we have achieved: a complete turnabout, a revolution. Seven years ago, America was weak, and freedom everywhere was under siege. Today America is strong, and democracy is everywhere on the move. From Central America to East Asia, ideas like free markets and democratic reforms and human rights are taking hold. We’ve replaced “Blame America” with “Look up to America.” We’ve rebuilt our defenses. And of all our accomplishments, none can give us more satisfaction than knowing that our young people are again proud to wear our country’s uniform.”
SANCTITY of LIFE: “Tonight, I call America–a good nation, a moral people–to charitable but realistic consideration of the terrible cost of abortion on demand. To those who say this violates a woman’s right to control of her own body: Can they deny that now medical evidence confirms the unborn child is a living human being entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Let us unite as a nation and protect the unborn with legislation that would stop all Federal funding for abortion and with a human life amendment making, of course, an exception where the unborn child threatens the life of the mother. Our Judeo-Christian tradition recognizes the right of taking a life in self-defense. But with that one exception, let us look to those others in our land who cry out for children to adopt. I pledge to you tonight I will work to remove barriers to adoption and extend full sharing in family life to millions of Americans so that children who need homes can be welcomed to families who want them and love them.”
FREEDOM: “As totalitarianism struggles to avoid being overwhelmed by the forces of economic advance and the aspiration for human freedom, it is the free nations that are resilient and resurgent. As the global democratic revolution has put totalitarianism on the defensive, we have left behind the days of retreat. America is again a vigorous leader of the free world, a nation that acts decisively and firmly in the furtherance of her principles and vital interests. No legacy would make me more proud than leaving in place a bipartisan consensus for the cause of world freedom, a consensus that prevents a paralysis of American power from ever occurring again.”
BOTTOM LINE: Adjusting to more centrist talking points by the Obama Administration such, as spending freezes and “investments” in infrastructure and education (code for debt & deficit spending), are frankly conciliatory gestures to recover lost ground surrendered during two years of extreme liberal and heavy-handed legislative policy making. The era of bigger-than-ever government is not over, if the currents crop of liberal intellectuals have their say.
James Michael Pratt is a New York Times bestselling novelist and non-fiction author, CEO of PowerThink Publishing, public speaker, Op Ed writer for The Daily Caller, and Founder of Reagan Revolution 2. His creative work may be reviewed at www.jmpratt.com. Email: james@powerthink.com and james@jmpratt.com.
