American Minute with Bill Federer

February 6 - A graduate of Eureka College, IL, 1932, he announced for radio stations in Iowa. He married Jane Wyman and had children Maureen and Michael. He was a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II, then became an actor, appearing in over 50 films. He was President of the Screen Actors Guild, switched from Democrat to Republican, and became Governor of California. His second marriage, to Nancy Davis, 1952, had children Patti and Ron. His name was Ronald Reagan, born FEBRUARY 6, 1911, and died June 5, 2004. At age sixty-nine, he was the oldest person elected U.S. President, and sixty-nine days after his inauguration, he survived an assassination attempt.

At the Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series, 1982, Ronald Reagan stated: "We can't have it both ways. We can't expect God to protect us in a crisis and just leave Him over there on the shelf in our day-to-day living. I wonder if sometimes He isn't waiting for us to wake up, He isn't maybe running out of patience." At Reunion Arena in Dallas, 1984, Ronald Reagan stated: "America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under."

On MARCH 15, 1984, the Senate voted down voluntary prayer in public schools. President Reagan said: "I am deeply disappointed that, although a majority of the Senate voted for it, the school prayer amendment fell short." On September 25, 1982, Ronald Reagan said: "Unfortunately, in the last two decades we've experienced an onslaught of such twisted logic that if Alice were visiting America, she might think she'd never left Wonderland. We're told that it somehow violates the rights of others to permit students in school who desire to pray to do so. Clearly this infringes on the freedom of those who choose to pray, the freedom taken for granted since the time of our Founding Fathers...To prevent those who believe in God from expressing their faith is an outrage...The relentless drive to eliminate God from our schools...should be stopped." Ronald Reagan said February 25, 1984: "Sometimes I can't help but feel the First Amendment is being turned on its head." Reagan told the Alabama Legislature, March 15, 1982: "The First Amendment was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny."

Wanted: Another Reagan (PatriotPost.us Feb. 2, 2007) Last month the Czech capital of Prague announced its decision to erect a monument to honor Ronald Reagan. And why not? Similar monuments to the man already exist in Budapest and Warsaw, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. It is entirely proper that our nation’s 40th President be memorialized in cities once shrouded by the Iron Curtain. According to one Czech paper, after his 1983 “Evil Empire” speech, “President Reagan was probably the most hated and ridiculed of all the Western leaders by the former communist regime. The communist media relentlessly condemned what they called ‘Reagan’s war-mongering’ and the arms race.” Then again, these were state-run media whose leading insights on America came courtesy of CNN.

... on 12 June 1987, despite the objections of the State Department and the National Security Council, President Reagan uttered these forceful and historic words before listeners at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin: “General-Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate... Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” ...

... “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.”

... As the ostensible heirs of the Reagan Revolution, today’s Republicans are committed to subsidizing prescription drugs, leaving no child behind, enlarging the federal footprint in the private sector and inventing government solutions to non-government problems. So we must ask the question once again: To what extent have they honored the Reagan Revolution? To what extent have they honored “the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers”?

For this complete Digest see: Patriot Vol. 07 No. 05 | 02 February 2007

Ronald Reagan quotes:

"We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. ... I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit." 1989 farewell address.

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again."

"Our enemies may be irrational, even outright insane, driven by nationalism, religion, ethnicity or ideology. They do not fear the United States for its diplomatic skills or the number of automobiles and software programs it produces. They respect only the firepower of our tanks, planes and helicopter gunships."

"We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free." 6 June 1984, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book."

"America was born in the midst of a great revolution sparked by oppressive taxation. There was something about the American character—open, hard-working, and honest—that rebelled at the very thought of taxes that were not only heavy but unfair. Today the proud American character remains unchanged. But slowly and subtly, surrendering first to this political pressure and then to that, our system of taxation has turned into something completely foreign to our nature—something complicated, unfair, and, in a fundamental sense, un-American. Well, my friends, the time has come for a second American revolution." 

"[The Democrats] put on quite a production in New York a few weeks ago. You might even call it slick. A stone's throw from Broadway it was, and how appropriate. Over and over they told us they are not the party they were. They kept telling us with straight faces that they're for family values, they're for a strong America, they're for less intrusive government. And they call me an actor. To hear them talk, you'd never know that the nightmare of nuclear annihilation has been lifted from our sleep. You'd never know that our standard of living remains the highest in the world. You'd never know that our air is cleaner than it was 20 years ago. You'd never know that we remain the one nation the rest of the world looks to for leadership."

“The specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face is that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and appeasement does not give you a choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. We are told that the problem is too complex for a simple answer. They are wrong. There is no easy answer, but there is a simple answer. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right, and this policy of accommodation asks us to accept the greatest possible immorality.”

“The moral underpinnings of our country must be able to bear the weight of today if we’re to pass on to the next generation an America worth having.”

“One legislator accused me of having a nineteenth-century attitude on law and order. That is a totally false charge. I have an eighteenth-century attitude. That is when the Founding Fathers made it clear that the safety of law-abiding citizens should be one of the government's primary concerns.” Speech to the Republican State Central  Committee. Sept. 7, 1973

“The educator is wrong who denies there are any absolutes - who sees no black and white or right or wrong, but just shades of gray in a world where discipline of any kind is an intolerable interference with the right of the individual.” Address to California Federation of Republican Women. July 27, 1970

"Reagan bolstered the U.S. military might to ruin the Soviet economy, and he achieved his goal." Gennady Gerasimov, senior spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry in the 1980s.

“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure." President Ronald Reagan

"The churches of America do not exist by the grace of the state; the churches of America are not mere citizens of the state. The churches of America exist apart; they have their own vantage point, their own authority. Religion is its own realm; it makes its own claims. We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief." Ronald Reagan

At a 1984 prayer breakfast, Mr. Reagan stated: "Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience.  Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive.  Without God, there is a coarsening of the society.  And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.  If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

"Families must continue to be the foundation of our nation. Families—not government programs—are the best way to make sure our children are properly nurtured, our elderly are cared for, our cultural and spiritual heritages are perpetuated, our laws are observed and our values are preserved. Thus it is imperative that our government's programs, actions, officials and social welfare institutions never be allowed to jeopardize the family. We fear the government may be powerful enough to destroy our families; we know that it is not powerful enough to replace them. The New Republican Party must be committed to working always in the interest of the American family." Ronald Reagan

"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, property less young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived -- all put together. How do we explain that? ...Unless he really was what he said he was."  Ronald Reagan - See Reagan2020.com

"[W]e've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important—why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know...on the 40th anniversary of D-day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, 'we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.' Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do." Ronald Reagan

Reagan's favorite verse was John 10:10 where Jesus said: The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

"The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the 'shining city upon a hill.' The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still. And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that: After two hundred years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness toward home. We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all."  Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address, 1989

"Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less & less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and I prayed. But I realized I couldn't ask for Gods help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn't that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all Gods children and therefore  equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold." President Reagan, from the March 30, 1981, entry in The Reagan Diaries

"'The Great Communicator' was effective because what he communicated was self-evident to all but our decayed elites: 'We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around,' he said in his Inaugural address. And at the end of a grim, grey decade—Vietnam, Watergate, energy crises, Iranian hostages—Americans decided they wanted a president who looked like the nation, not like its failed government. Thanks to his clarity, around the world, governments that had nations have been replaced by nations that have governments." Mark Steyn

What would Ronald Reagan do?

Twenty-five years ago last Friday, President Ronald Reagan made his first appearance before Congress after recovering from an assassination attempt. He spoke to a joint session of Congress about his economic recovery proposal:

The answer to a government that’s too big is to stop feeding its growth. Government spending has been growing faster than the economy itself. The massive national debt which we accumulated is the result of the government’s high spending diet. Well, it’s time to change the diet and to change it in the right way. …

Reducing the growth of spending, cutting marginal tax rates, providing relief from overregulation, and following a noninflationary and predictable monetary policy are interwoven measures which will ensure that we have addressed each of the severe dislocations which threaten our economic future. These policies will make our economy stronger, and the stronger economy will balance the budget…

These words surely resonate today as Congress faces ever-increasing spending and the prospect of painful tax increases. “To fail to act,” as President Reagan said, “will delay even longer and more painfully the cure which must come.”

Even though President Reagan’s proposals were promptly adopted, our leaders have since lost their way. Since 2001, federal spending has increased by 33 percent, as Heritage’s Brian Riedl reported in February (link in PDF). Federal spending grew eight percent last year alone, more than twice the rate of economic growth. And the future looks even worse: David John and Bob Moffit explain that without serious reforms, by 2030, half of all federal spending will go to Social Security and Medicaid, compared to seven percent today.

But despite this long streak of fiscal shenanigans from our elected leaders, there’s a glimmer of hope.

• Read more about how Ronald Reagan impacts today's spending debate

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