Ronald Reagan

In NL voornamelijk afgedaan als "2e rangs cowboy filmster". Schampend spreken en voluit gniffelen, dat deden de Kinderen: "wat een domme Amerikanen! Een cowboy als President!". De Kinderen zien liever echte politici, Kok, Bos, Rosenmuller en Balkenende om er maar eens wat van stal te halen. Waarom was Ronnie nu zo'n goede en populaire president? Niet omdat hij de kansloze "war on drugs" intensiveerde. Zeer zeker niet. Ronald Reagan wilde de vrijheid terug en begreep maar al te goed dat daarvoor de overheid drastisch teruggebracht moest worden. Ik kwam oud materiaal van hem tegen. Deze 'Freedom' "was recorded on November 8, 1977 and is one of more than 1,000 radio messages hand-written and broadcast by Ronald Reagan between 1975 to 1979." Click to listen: mp3 or ogg Meelezen:

Sometimes I wonder if we haven't talked freedom,
free enterprise, etc., so much and so long as
abstract theory, that people--particularly young
people --don't just tune us out.

Speaking to some students the other day,
I referred to freedoms lost in this land
during my lifetime. And I got a question--what
freedoms? What was I talking about? It reminded
me of a TV play I had once done in which I
played a Soviet major during the occupation
of Budapest. In the play I turned out to be
something of a nice fellow and let two Hungarians
go with this line, "I never knew what freedom
was until I saw you lose yours." But facing
these students, I had to search for an answer.
This is what I came up with

When I was their age, there was no such thing as
a driver's license. Your father began teaching
you to drive the family car when he thought
you were old enough and after you had driven
him crazy asking why weren't you old enough. You
passed your driver's test when he said, "Yes, you
can take the car on your date tonight." Believe
me, he didn't say that until he was as sure as
it's possible to be that you knew how to drive.

Now, maybe you'll say that is not a good example;
that driver's licenses are a necessity. Are
there any fewer accidents today than there were
then? Is there a better test of your ability
than a parent turning you loose at the wheel
of several thousand dollars of investment of
his hard earned money? What about 12 year old
farm kids driving tractors on their father's
farm and plowing a field yet? Well, this led to
other examples.

When I was 14 years old, I got a summer job
with an outfit that was rebuilding and selling
old homes. Before the summer was over, I had
laid hardwood floor, shingled roof, painted and
worked on foundations. And, at summer's end,
I had my first year's tuition for college in the
bank. Can that be done today? No! You'd have to
get a government license to do just about every
kind of work that I did. And just as it does
with driving, government, not the fellow who
hired you, would decide whether you were capable.

In a recent debate with Ralph Nader, a
distinguished scholar recently threw the obvious
example of lack of freedom at Ralph and did so
deliberately, sure of the answer he would get.

What right," he challenged, "does government
have to say you cannot ride a motor cycle
without a helmet? You aren't endangering anyone
but yourself." Right on cue, came a typical
"Naderism."

If a helmetless rider splashes himself on the
pavement, a government-subsidized ambulance will
pick him up, take him to a government-subsidized
hospital. If he dies, he will be buried in a
government-subsidized cemetery and government
welfare will begin paying for the support of
his widow and orphaned children. Therefore,
government cannot let him fall down and
go boom. In other words, we are all now
stamped--"Property of the U.S. Government:
Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate."

This is Ronald Reagan, thanks for listening.

(November 8, 1977)

My family and I would like the world to know 
that President Ronald Reagan has passed away 
after 10 years of Alzheimer's Disease at 93 years of age. 
We appreciate everyone's prayers.