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Quotational Therapy: Part 68 -- Reagan's Revolutionary Inaugural Address.

The Reagan Revolution-

The Reagan Revolution seized power 25 years ago this month, as Ronald Wilson Reagan replaced an ineffectual weakling of a leader, thereby restoring America's confidence in its own greatness.

A snippet from President Reagan's First Inaugural Address:

We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the federal government and those reserved to the states or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay the price.

Read the entire speech here, and for some reflections on the speech, a quarter of a century later, click here.

Previous Quotational Therapy Session:

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" Speech.

The right quote can be therapeutic, so tune in to WILLisms.com for quotational therapy on Monday and Friday.

Posted by Will Franklin · 27 January 2006 05:27 PM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at January 28, 2006 11:37 AM