Ronald Reagan in Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour

On Environment: 1983: Extended sovereign control 200 miles off US coast

In March 1983, in a little-noticed but historic act, President Reagan issued a proclamation confirming American sovereign rights and control over all living and nonliving resources within 200 miles of US coasts--a staggering addition to our natural patrimony of some 2 million square miles, or about 4 billion acres. The seabeds we now control and the ocean above are an unopened treasure house. Our new offshore domains could become a Louisiana Purchase of the 21st century.

Reagan's actions were a sound alternative to the ill-considered 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This UN proposal would create a socialistic system of control and regulation of the seas. It embodies an outmoded 1970s view of the world. Reagan would not approve the convention. If the nation is to realize the full potential of President Reagan's vision, we must create a forward-looking oceans policy that recognizes our many and complicated interests.

Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.277-278 Apr 25, 1996

On Free Trade: 1985: Articulated goal of Western Hemisphere free trade

Reagan's belief in the twin policies of deregulation and free market trade reinvigorated the American economy in the 1980s. Under Reagan's leadership, we initiated a series of measures to ensure increased opportunities to sell American-made goods and services overseas, believing that exports equal jobs for Americans.

It was Reagan who first articulated a goal of free trade in the Western Hemisphere. America's first free trade agreement with Israel, implemented in 1985, was a Reagan achievement. A US-Canada agreement followed. In 1986, Reagan launched the Uruguay Round, a series of talks aimed at the reduction of trade barriers among more than 60 nations. NAFTA, providing substantial trade benefits to US firms seeking to conduct business in Mexico and Canada--our best customers--was another initiative of the Reagan-Bush years.

Reagan's faith in free trade principles was vindicated abroad by the crumbling of state-controlled, centrally directed communist economies.

Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.177-178 Apr 25, 1996

On Welfare & Poverty: Switch from project-based to tenant-based subsidy program

In 1983 Congress finally agreed with the Reagan administration that the Section 8 program was too costly. The Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983 repealed the authorization for Section 8--for example, new construction and substantial rehabilitation--but left other moderate rehabilitation and elderly projects (Section 202). Most importantly, conservatives switched from project-based assistance under Section 8 to housing vouchers and certificates, or a tenant-based subsidy program. The tenants could choose their own apartment with a voucher or certificate--they finally had a choice! Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.113 Apr 25, 1996

The above quotations are from The Agenda for America A Republican Direction for the Future by Gov. Haley Barbour (R, MS). Click here for other excerpts from The Agenda for America A Republican Direction for the Future by Gov. Haley Barbour (R, MS). Click here for other excerpts by Ronald Reagan. Click here for other excerpts by other Governors.
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Page last updated: Dec 12, 2018