Reagan 25th Inaugural Anniversary: The Celebration Continues

Ronald Reagan excelled in communicating through the spoken and written word. His speeches are moving testaments to his vision of hope, peace and prosperity for mankind.

But Ronald Reagan was a visual communicator as well. Perhaps it was his Hollywood training as a actor. Except that no actor could bring the sense of personal sincerity and generosity of spirit to not just those he met, but those who would only know him from photographs and television.

Grizzly Mama remembers President Reagan with the visual reminder above: "Doesn't he just look handsome as all get out?" she says. And like so many she recalls: "Reagan gave me hope for the future of our country. I felt proud to be an American when I heard Reagan speak. I rooted for him to win - and he did!"

She offers this praise to the late President:

God bless your soul, Ronald Reagan. You still inspire us.
You inspired a young lady, 17 years old and in basic training in the United States Army. I once again felt proud to be an American. I was ready to serve then and happy that you were to be my Commander in Chief.

Grizzly speaks for many who joined the military as our nation recaptured it's sense of confidence, pride and our restored mission to bring peace to the world. Grizzly also includes a photo of her military arms training which might have made quite a recruiting poster for the National Rifle Association.

Reagan's Speeches: History in a Nutshell

Razor Sharp Claws posts a catalog of Reagan's best speeches. A short description is included as well as the audio. When asked which is her favorite, without hesitation she replies: "The one in 1964 ["A Time for Choosing"] touched me because I was too busy being a kid to understand anything. Amazing! [This week] I heard this one for the first time!"

Thank you Razor Sharp Claws. I was too young to pay much attention to the speech too... She also posts this photo of Reagan in one of his movie roles. It's sure to drive the moonbats NUTS! So don't miss it.

American Crusader Also admired the 1964 speech: "A Time for Choosing" (full text, video and audio here). This was the address, given on behalf of Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964 which launched Ronald Reagan onto the national scene and set his conservative philosophy on a clear and direct path that led to the White House and the restoration of America's soul sixteen years later.

American Crusader excerpts the basic beliefs from which President Reagan never wavered, and which still ring true today. Among them:

• On Taxes: No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today, 37 cents of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector's share, and yet our government continues to spend $17 million a day more than the government takes in....We have $15 billion in gold in our treasury--we don't own an ounce.
• On Freedom: Not too long ago two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are! I had someplace to escape to." In that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.
• On the Economy: 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.
• Eminent Domain: In a program that takes for the needy and gives to the greedy, we see such spectacles as in Cleveland, Ohio, a million-and-a-half-dollar building completed only three years ago must be destroyed to make way for what government officials call a "more compatible use of the land."
• On Welfare: If government planning and welfare had the answer and they've had almost 30 years of it, shouldn't we expect government to almost read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn't they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing?
• Social Security: A young man, 21 years of age, working at an average salary...his Social Security contribution would, in the open market, buy him an insurance policy that would again guarantee $220 a month at age 65. The government promises $127....Can't we introduce voluntary features that would permit a citizen who can do better on his own to be excused upon presentation of evidence that he had made provisions for the non-earning years?
• The United Nations: I think we are for an international organization, where the nations of the world can seek peace. But I think we are against subordinating American interests to an organization that has become so structurally unsound that today you can muster a two-thirds vote on the floor of the General Assembly among the nations that represent less than 10 percent of the world's population.
• Big Government: No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this Earth. Federal employees number 2.5 million, and federal, state, and local, one out of six of the nation's work force is employed by the government.
• Foreign Policy: 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. And what then?You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength."

American Crusader closes with this personal reflection: "This is why in 1982, after graduating from college I joined the Coast Guard to serve our country. This great man, our greatest president will always be a man for all times."