“A Time For Choosing” by Ronald Reagan

Contact Your Elected Officials
"A Time for Choosing" by Ronald Reagan

A Time For Choosing is a Ronald Reagan stump speech that was given at speaking engagements and was given on a memorable night in support of Barry Goldwater during the 1964 Republican National Convention. In this speech Ronald Reagan speaks of a “rendezvous with destiny”.

Fifty years ago, journalist David Broder described Ronald Reaganโ€™s speech on behalf of presidential candidate Barry Goldwater as โ€œthe most successful political debut since William Jennings Bryan.โ€

The speech entitled โ€œA Time for Choosing,โ€ has echoed in American politics for more than 50 years, defining a new approach to conservatism giving us optimism in the underlying greatness of America.

This televised campaign address by Ronald Reagan made for the Goldwater Presidential Campaign was made on October 27, 1964.

A Time For Choosing

I am going to talk of controversial things. I make no apology for this.

It’s time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, “We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government.”

This idea — that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power — is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream–the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order — or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, “The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.”

The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.

Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, “What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.” But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.

Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we’re denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we’re always “against,” never “for” anything.

We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem. However, we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments….

We are for aiding our allies by sharing our material blessings with nations which share our fundamental beliefs, but we are against doling out money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world.

We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him…. But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure….

Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of the progressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation? . . . Today in our country the tax collector’s share is 37 cents of every dollar earned. Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp.

Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends? Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can’t socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he’ll eat you last.

If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what’s at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that “the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits–not animals.” And he said, “There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

The Thinking Conservative
The Thinking Conservativehttps://www.thethinkingconservative.com/
The goal of THE THINKING CONSERVATIVE is to help us educate ourselves on conservative topics of importance to our freedom and our pursuit of happiness. We do this by sharing conservative opinions on all kinds of subjects, from all types of people, and all kinds of media, in a way that will challenge our perceptions and help us to make educated choices.

Is Trumpโ€™s Throw Down Going Down?

During a recent announcement at the White House, President Trump, and other participants appeared without ties and with there top shirt buttons undone.

Defying Mr. Softee

Revived after decades of decline, the Presidential Physical Fitness Test returns as a merit-based antidote to rising childhood obesity and chronic disease.

DOJ Releases Maxwell Proffer Transcript: CASE CLOSED?

DOJ releasedย transcript and audio recordingsย of Ghislaine Maxwellโ€™s proffer โ€” an image-laundering operation to get herself a pardon for sex-trafficking crimes.

Common Sense Economics and Finance: Value Established for the American Republic

A infection has mutated federal finance into a condition of political inflation, and valueless FED money is proof that the Federal Reserve is the root cause of that condition.

Pastor Corey Brooks is Walking Across America!

Last night I got to fulfill a bucket list item. I got to meet one of my personal heroes of our time (after Donald Trump) Pastor Corey Brooks.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia Facing Deportation to Uganda After Rejecting Plea Offer, Attorneys Say

Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia allege U.S. authorities are threatening to deport him to Uganda after he declined offer to plead guilty to human smuggling charges.

โ€˜Godfather of AIโ€™ Warns Superintelligent Machines Could Replace Humanity

Geoffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist who pioneered neural networks, says artificial intelligence is advancing too fast to control.

Trump Names 4 Judges to Fill Vacancies in North Carolina Courts

Trump announced 4 nominees to fill federal trial court vacancies in NC, tapping prosecutors, a magistrate judge, and a private practitioner for the stateโ€™s two district courts.

The Big Beautiful Bill Brings Big Changes for Taxpayers

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes tax breaks for an expansive range of taxpayers, while scrapping credits for energy-saving vehicles and home improvements.

Trumpโ€™s Tariffs Will Reduce Deficits by $4 Trillion Over Next Decade, Says CBO Report

A report released by the CBO predicted that President Donald Trumpโ€™s tariffs will reduce federal deficits by around $4 trillion over the next decade.

USDA Issues Memorandum Prioritizing American Energy on National Forest Lands

Secretary Rollins said that the United States will no longer allow foreign-made solar panels or inefficient energy projects to undermine national security.

US Pauses Visas for Commercial Truck Drivers, Citing Safety and Other Impacts

The Trump administration will immediately pause the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers, Sec of State Marco Rubio said.

Chip Stocks Fall on Reports White House Seeking Equity in Exchange for Grants

Share prices of semiconductor companies fell following reports the Trump admin is considering taking equity stakes in exchange for federal funding.
spot_img

Related Articles