Ronald Reagan in Saving Freedom

On Budget & Economy: Government is not the means to our prosperity

Political leaders since Reagan have disconnected national policy from our core values by telling Americans we can have it all without making the difficult choices. Even Reagan failed to make some of the tough choices of leadership. In order to get his priorities through a Democrat Congress, he sacrificed his promise "to reverse the growth of government" and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He left the nation with large deficits and more dependent for our energy.

While conservatives should no naively romanticize Reagan as the perfect leader, we can claim an important distinction between Reagan and other presidents of this generation: he made it clear the government was not the answer to our problems. The you-can-have-it-all-and-the-government will-guarantee-it political leaders since Reagan have fundamentally changed the American mind-set. Any interruption in our "having it all" elicits a knee-jerk response from federal politicians who promise to "bail us out" with more spending and debts.

Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p. 4-5 Jul 4, 2009

On Government Reform: The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan

The more our federal government tries to solve every problem, the more problems it causes. The more problems it causes, the more it spends and the bigger it grows as it tries to fix the problems it has caused. As Ronald Reagan said, "The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan." And inevitably the bigger our federal government grows, the more freedom evaporates as America slides precariously closer to socialism. Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.119 Jul 4, 2009

On Homeland Security: OpEd: To grow military, had to let Dems grow social programs

In his 1981 inaugural address Reagan promised to "check and reverse the growth of government.":

"For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals. You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation?"

Unfortunately, Reagan had to deal with a Democrat Congress intent on expanding domestic spending for social programs. In order to get the spending he wanted to rebuild our military and back down the Soviets, Reagan was forced to give the Democrats the money they wanted for social programs. America's debt and dependency increased dramatically. Overall federal spending nearly doubled during the Reagan years, and federal deficits skyrocketed.

Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p. 37-38 Jul 4, 2009

On Principles & Values: Preserve the last best hope of man on earth

"Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment. ... 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'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness" --President Ronald Reagan Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p. 12 Jul 4, 2009

On Principles & Values: Private values must be at the heart of public policies

"Private values," said President Reagan in his 1986 state-of-the-union message, "must be at the heart of public policies." Americans have always valued faith, character, hard work, personal responsibility, self-reliance, discipline, competition, charity, fairness, and achievement. Values originate from what people believe, especially what they believe about God.

Reagan won the hearts and votes of the American people by shifting the debate from a myriad of confusing political issues to values Americans recognized immediately as their own. By reminding Americans of our goodness and strengths, Reagan held up a mirror and helped us see ourselves at our very best. Reagan made us believe we could get across any river on our own. Reagan convinced Americans that freedom would work for everyone and that the big-government welfare state was just a fox clothed in deceptive political promises.

Unfortunately the cause of freedom has had too few articulate champions since Ronald Reagan.

Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p. 3 Jul 4, 2009

On Principles & Values: Replace left-right with up (freedom)& down (totalitarianism)

Americans who have become increasingly dependent on the federal government must now make a difficult choice. Reagan said we must decide "whether we believe in our capacity for self-government of 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 increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to man's dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ash heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."

Reagan knew every generation of Americans must make a choice between freedom and socialism. Today that choice confronts Americans more urgently than ever before.

Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p. 7-8 Jul 4, 2009

The above quotations are from Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America's Slide into Socialism, by Sen. Jim DeMint. Click here for other excerpts from Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America's Slide into Socialism, by Sen. Jim DeMint. Click here for other excerpts by Ronald Reagan. Click here for a profile of Ronald Reagan.
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