Can anyone disagree with the great ones?

Who can argue with any of this?

#,All great change in America begins at the dinner table. - Ronald Reagan
#,A people free to choose will always choose peace. - Ronald Reagan
#,Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is
so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our
adversaries in today’s world do not have. - Ronald Reagan
#,Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty - Ronald Reagan
#,Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government
ever devised by man. - Ronald Reagan
#,Don’t be afraid to see what you see. - Ronald Reagan
#,Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic
growth in the United States. - Ronald Reagan
#,Facts are stubborn things. - Ronald Reagan
#,Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our
children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do
the same. - Ronald Reagan
#,Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. -
Ronald Reagan
#,Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets. - Ronald Reagan
#,Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. - Ronald Reagan
#,Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its
limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves. - Ronald Reagan
#,Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves,
tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. - Ronald
Reagan
#,I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m
in a cabinet meeting. - Ronald Reagan
#,I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run
them through the US Congress. - Ronald Reagan
#,I’ve never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a ‘fat cat’ and a
Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a ‘public-spirited philanthropist’. -
Ronald Reagan
#,If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. -
Ronald Reagan
#,Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a
hit man. - Ronald Reagan
#,Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we
did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the
faith. - Ronald Reagan
#,Man is not free unless government is limited. - Ronald Reagan
#,No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched,
never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll
ever see on this earth! - Ronald Reagan
#,Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong. - Ronald
Reagan
#,One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it. - Ronald
Reagan
#,Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace
yourself you can always write a book. - Ronald Reagan
#,Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. - Ronald
Reagan
#,Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day
is April 15. - Ronald Reagan
#,Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have
that problem. - Ronald Reagan
#,The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m
here to help. - Ronald Reagan
#,The taxpayer - that’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to
take the civil service examination. - Ronald Reagan
#,There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers
to our progress except those we ourselves erect. - Ronald Reagan
#,There are no easy answers’ but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do
what we know is morally right. - Ronald Reagan
#,There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence,
imagination, and wonder. - Ronald Reagan
#,To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on
feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will. - Ronald Reagan
#,We are never defeated unless we give up on God. - Ronald Reagan
#,We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone. - Ronald Reagan
#,We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child. - Ronald Reagan
#,We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Ten
Commandments and the Golden Rule. - Ronald Reagan
#,We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the
lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable
for his actions. - Ronald Reagan
#,Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own
existence. - Ronald Reagan
#,We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are
added. - Ronald Reagan
#,Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so
let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made
sources.- Ronald Reagan
#,We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will
always be free. - Ronald Reagan
#,All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk. - Ronald
Reagan
#,What we have found in this country, and maybe we’re more aware of it now, is one problem
that we’ve had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the
grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice. - Ronald Reagan
#,Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face. - Ronald
Reagan
#,Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. - Ronald Reagan
#,If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to
the slaughter. - George Washington
#,It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. - George Washington
#,Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’
liberty’s teeth. - George Washington
#,The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they
deserve a place of honor with all that’s good. - George Washington
#,A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us. -
Margaret Thatcher
#,Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t. -
Margaret Thatcher
#,Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and importance although difficult is
the highroad to pride self-esteem and personal satisfaction. - Margaret Thatcher
#,Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy. - Margaret Thatcher
#,I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well,
if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. -
Margaret Thatcher
#,I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the
end good will triumph. - Margaret Thatcher
#,I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will
not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near. - Margaret Thatcher
#,I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me,
that’s not their job. - Margaret Thatcher
#,I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air. - Margaret Thatcher
#,I’ve got a woman’s ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks
off and leaves it. - Margaret Thatcher
#,If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any
time, and you would achieve nothing. - Margaret Thatcher
#,If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman. - Margaret
Thatcher
#,If you want to cut your own throat, don’t come to me for a bandage. - Margaret Thatcher
#,It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake. -
Margaret Thatcher
#,It pays to know the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to
turn him into a friend. - Margaret Thatcher
#,No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as
well. - Margaret Thatcher
#,Ought we not to ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, under
which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists’ morale or their
cause while the hijack lasted. - Margaret Thatcher
#,Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan. - Margaret Thatcher
#,The battle for women’s rights has been largely won. - Margaret Thatcher
#,There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as
Quislings, as traitors… I mean - Margaret Thatcher
#,There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty. - Margaret Thatcher
#,To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches.

  • Margaret Thatcher
    #,To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and
    policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects. -
    Margaret Thatcher
    #,You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. - Margaret Thatcher
    #,A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual,
    rather than his policy, becomes the issue. - Richard Nixon
    #,Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate
    them. And then you destroy yourself. Richard Nixon
    #,Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have
    shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for
    freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that. - Richard Nixon
    #,Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which
    they exist. - Richard Nixon
    #,Any lady who is first lady likes being first lady. I don’t care what they say they like
    it. - Richard Nixon
    #,As this long and difficult war ends I would like to address a few special words to the
    American people: Your steadfastness in supporting our insistence on peace with honor has
    made peace with honor possible. - Richard Nixon
    #,By the time you get dressed drive out there play 18 holes and come home you’ve blown seven
    hours. There are better things you can do with your time. - Richard Nixon
    #,Don’t get the impression that you arouse my anger. You see, one can only be angry with
    those he respects. - Richard Nixon
    #,If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial that means he never stood
    for anything. - Richard Nixon
    #,If you take no risks you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks you win no
    victories. - Richard Nixon
    #,In the television age the key distinction is between the candidate who can speak poetry
    and the one who can only speak prose. - Richard Nixon

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’.”
-Ronald Regan

“A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not.”-Ronald Reagan

Under Reagan this happened:

The Savings&Loans Crisis (similar to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis of 2008) as a result of his deregulation of the industry through the Garn St-Germain Act.

The Iran-Contra Affair which was a total breach of the constitutional authority of the president (worse than Watergate).

The US funded the Taliban and other right wing fascistic groups in the Middle East (and Latin America)

AIDS was ignored because it was thought to only effect gay people.

Coded racism was streamlined and used to bring about a full conservative realignment.

The Soviet threat was vastly overstated in favor of exponential expansion of the military which resulted in huge debt as well as Reagan taking credit for Gorbachev.

Reagan walked out of a peace conference with Gorbachev bc he was asked to give up on SDI…We still don’t have SDI yet it has cost us billions of dollars.

The wealth gap exploded.

Everything wrong with America now resulted from Reagan’s realignment. He made popular the same failed economic policies from Herbert Hoover’s Republican Party and we are now reaping the benefits. “Can anyone disagree?” Yes, we can. Reagan was one of the absolute WORST presidents in American history.

I certainly disagree with a few of these.

This is an attempt to dehumanise the enemy, to make it seem that they’re “not like us” and that we’re intrinsically better.

It encourages people to support war and killing, without caring for the cost.

Actually, freedom prospers when people get to choose for themselves. If they choose religion, that’s great! If they want a diverse society underpinned by religious values, that’s great as well. But there are places where religion is enforced, either by law or by mob rule, and that doesn’t lead to freedom.

Perhaps it was once true that an armed population (and the threat of revolution) was the only way to keep governments in check. But these days, there are countries all over the world with robust democracies which don’t have widespread gun ownership. Europe and Australia are good examples.

The gun lobbies, and large parts of America’s white middle-class, say that guns increase their safety. But what does it do for the Trayvon Martins, who aren’t white, and don’t carry guns?

I agree with all the quotes you chose from Thatcher and Nixon (accepting that a few of Thatcher’s comments were more ‘banter’ than belief) - though I’m sure they said other things that were less inspirational.

Every president often speaks the truth, and mostly acts against it. One thing about all those sayings is true, though: Reagan’s PR folks were right in realizing the importance of getting the best speechwriters. Many previous presidents relied on their own native skills–not entirely, but a lot. Reagan never did. And given the actor is was, it was a perfect match: somebody else’s words, and his apparent sincerity.