Posted on 06/05/2004 1:32:43 PM PDT by Big Steve
Any one here like the 80s movie, "BAck to the Future?" IT is one of my favorite movies. Remember the scene in which CHristopher Lloyd in 1955 asks Michael J. Fox who is President in 1985. Fox says, "Ronald Reagan." Lloyd replies, "Ronald Reagan. The actor? Hah!" Reagan was reported to have loved that scene so much he had the projectionist go back to that scene. He had laughed his head off according to sources. This fine man had a great sense of humor and took it the right way.
Some viewed it as a slam at Reagan, but not the Gipper himself. He quoted a scene from the end of the first "Back to the Future" movie in one of his SOTU addresses. "We are taking America back to the future, and where we are going, we won't need roads." This shows you his eternal optimism for America by quoting a scene from a movie. WHen his time on earth is done, he will be remembered for this eternal optimism.
For some strange reason, it's one of my favorite movies. I usually watch single-digit hours worth of television each month but I watched Back to the Future when it came on last week.
"We've been blessed with the opportunity to stand for something- for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to? So let us go forth with good cheer and stout hearts- happy warriors out to seize back a country and a world to freedom."
-Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference Dinner, March 1, 1985
"Back then (before 1981), 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, Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business, Aug. 15, 1986
"The best view of big government is in the rearview mirror as we leave it behind."
-Ronald Reagan, Spirit of America Rally, Jan. 26, 1984
"Presidents come and go. History comes and goes, but principles endure and insure future generations to defend liberty- not a gift from government, but a blessing from our Creator. Here, the lamp of individual conscience burns bright. By that I know we will all be guided to that dreamed-of day when no one wields a sword and no one drags a chain."
-Ronald Reagan, Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony, Jan. 13, 1993
"I just wanted to speak to you about something from the Internal Revenue Code. It is the last sentence of section 509A of the code and it reads: 'For purposes of paragraph 3, an organization described in paragraph 2 shall be deemed to include an organization described in section 501C-4, 5, or 6, which would be described in paragraph 2 if it were an organization described in section 501C-3.' And that's just one sentence out of those 57 feet of books."
-Ronald Reagan, Speech to Dothan-Houston County Chamber of Commerce, July 10, 1986
"The future belongs not to governments and ideologies which oppress their peoples, but to democratic systems of self-government which encourage individual initiative and guarantee personal freedom."
-Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address, Jan. 25, 1983
"I've not taken your time this evening merely to ask you to trust me. Instead, I ask you to trust yourselves. That's what America is all about. Our struggle for nationhood, our unrelenting fight for freedom, our very existence- these have all rested on the assurance that you must be free to shape your life as you are best able to, that no one can stop you from reaching higher or take from you the creativity that has made America the envy of mankind."
-Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation on Federal Tax Reduction Legislation, July 27, 1981
"Those who came to this untamed land brought family. And families built a nation. I'm convinced that today the majority of Americans want really what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children, a minimum of government authority. Very simply, they want to be left alone in peace and safety to take care of the family by earning an honest dollar? millions of us ask nothing more, but certainly nothing less, than to live our own lives, according to our own values. At peace with ourselves, our neighbors, and the world."
-Ronald Reagan, National Television Address, July 6, 1976
"I heard those speakers at the other convention saying, 'We won the Cold War,' and I couldn't help wondering, just who exactly do they mean by 'We'?"
-Ronald Reagan, Address to the Republican National Convention, Aug. 17, 1992
"Freedom is the very essence of our nation. To be sure, ours is not a perfect nation. But even with our troubles, we remain the beacon of hope for oppressed peoples everywhere. Never give up the fight for freedom- a fight which, though it may never end, is the most ennobling known to man."
-Ronald Reagan, Presentation of a section of the Berlin Wall at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, April 12, 1990
"I'll tell the story of a friend of mine who was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist."
-Ronald Reagan, Remarks on the appointment of a member of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, Feb. 11, 1988
"It is old-fashioned, even reactionary, to remind people that free enterprise has done more to reduce poverty than all the government programs dreamed up by Democrats."
-Ronald Reagan, Address as Governor of California, 1972
"I had a copy of the Soviet Constitution and I read it with great interest. And I saw all kinds of terms in there that sound just exactly like our own: 'Freedom of assembly' and 'freedom of speech' and so forth. Of course, they don't allow them to have those things, but they're in there in the constitution. But I began to wonder about the other constitutions- everyone has one- and our own, and why so much emphasis on ours. And then I found out, and the answer was very simple. That's why you don't notice it at first, but it is so great that it tells the entire difference. All those other constitutions are documents that say that 'We, the government, allow the people the following rights,' and our Constitution says 'We, the people, allow the government the following privileges and rights.'
-Ronald Reagan, Speech to delegates of the U.S. Senate Youth Program, Feb. 5, 1981
"No one has yet found a way to repeal the law of supply and demand."
-Ronald Reagan, Address as Governor of California, 1972
"I think the so-called conservative is today what was, in the classic sense, the liberal. The classical liberal, during the Revolutionary time, was a man who wanted less power for the king and more power for the people. He wanted people to have more say in the running of their lives and he wanted protection for the God-given rights of the people. He did not believe those rights were dispensations granted by the king to the people, he believed that he was born with them. Well, that, today, is the conservative."
-Ronald Reagan, Interview as Governor of California, 1973
"And I hope that when you're my age, you'll be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom, we lived lives that were a statement, not an apology!"
-Ronald Reagan, Speech at St. John's University, March 28, 1985
"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 capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves."
--Ronald Reagan's Speech at the 1964 National Convention: A Time for Choosing
"As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
-Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1980
"Individual freedom and the profit motive were the engines of progress which transformed an American wilderness into an economic dynamo that provided the American people with a standard of living that is still the envy of the world."
-Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the National Space Club Luncheon, March 29, 1985
"I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man."
-Ronald Reagan, Speech at the annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983
"The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of these United States are covenants we have made not only with ourselves, but with all mankind. Our founding documents proclaim to the world that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few. It is the universal right of all God's children."
-Ronald Reagan, Address to the Captive Nations Week Conference, July 15, 1991
"We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion now in slavery behind the Iron Curtain, 'Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skin, we are willing to make a deal with your slave masters'."
-Ronald Reagan, Nationwide Address on behalf of Sen. Barry Goldwater, Oct. 27, 1964
I was thinking it would be nice to have a thread like this... where people share more human stories on President Reagan. Some of my favorites were his humor, directed at himself. I recall during the debate with Mondale, when President Reagan's age was being floated as an issue, that President Reagan read a lengthy quote from Thomas Jefferson about age, then followed up with, "And ever since he told me that, I've stopped worrying!" Recently I read that a news reporter once reminded President Reagan that he (Pres. Reagan) had stated that if his memory ever began to fail, he would leave office. President Reagan immediately shot back, "When did I say that?"
As a big man, President Reagan had nothing to fear from other big men and big women.
By "big," I mean an elusive mixture of courage, serenity, magnanimity, and humility.
Bigness and the quest for bigness has become the philosophical theme of my life.
President Reagan is a giant, and let me tell you something: many of his most bitter detractors know it. Some of them will admit to themselves the truth before their time is come, and that will be Reagan's gift to them.
(steely)
*sigh*
What a great loss for the world. You just don't get many people like that nowadays.
Great!
Thank you.
Back to the Future my favorite movie ever.
This benign movie was one of my Dad's favorite movies. And the reason I remember that is because of his reason. He said that the idea of a child knowing what his parents were like when they were young and filled with promise was a wonderful idea. It made me think.
"Back to the Future my favorite movie ever."
I had watched "Back to the Future" VERY CAREFULLY, several time before I put my finger on the thing that separates it from most other movies: It is a perfect script. By that I mean that EVERY line in the film means something in terms of the story and moves it along. EVERY line in the script entertains. There isn't one line, scene or moment that is surplus or that fails to ring or that falls flat. It is the most carefully crafted, perfectly paced script I have ever seen.
"Politics has been called the second oldest profession... and the longer i'm in Washington the more I realize how much a resemblance it has to the first"
(paraphrasing fm memory, of course, but what a great line)
God Bless Ronald Reagan, he is back home with our Father... and can now guard America from the Celestial plane...
CGVet58
Oddly enough, that movie is on TBS right now.
I was reading in Peggy Noonan's "What I saw at the Revolution" last night.
Reagan is in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wounds. His aides come in to see him hunched over in the bathroom.
He had spilled his cup of ice-water and was cleaning up the mess. Told his aides to get more towels. He didn't want the nurse to have to clean up the mess that he had caused.
On the news Bill Bennett (former Sec. of Education) was telling lots of stories like that. About staying a bit too long at a grade school. They are leaving in the limo and Reagan says to him: "We shouldn't have stayed so long, we kept those children away from their studies."
Noonan tells often of his consideration of others.
Reminds me of the quote from some christian writer "Being humble doesn't mean thinking less of yourself. It means thinking more of others".
I think it says something about such a great and powerful man to be first remembered by some of his close advisors not on the big things that he did, but telling the little stories.
Back to the Future 2 also had a good jibe at the 80's bar, with Reagan and ayatollah khomeini fighting it out.
I think WTBS ran "Back to the Future" about 6 PM or so, it might still be running as I type this.
One of Doug's friends: Don't worry Doug, they'll get him out.
Doug(whose dad was hostage by an Arab country): Like when they tried to rescue the hostages in Iran?
Reggie: Now, that was back when Mr. Peanut was in charge. There's now a guy in the White House that doesn't take s**t from puny little countries. Why do you think they call him Ronald RAY-GUN?
Though not a quote per se, I want to share my feelings with you.
Throughout most of my adult life, there have been two Americans who were both famous in the popular mind of our people, and who both had an uncanny gift of being able to always make you feel better after I saw them in their milieus: Bob Hope, and Ronald Reagan.
Like many, many others, I never met either; my interface was through mass media. There hasn't been a moment when - in viewing an old movie, reading a newsclip, or hearing a radio broadcast or a speech - that I haven't smiled the kind of smile that comes from my heart that makes me feel just completely grand at that single, sublime and simple moment. Whether laughing at the wit either of these Giants expressed, or getting that "everything's OK" feeling when their self-deprecating, aw-shucks humor hit home... or being in awe of the love for America and Americans that Bob showed through his USO tours, and the same awe and reverence for the absolute and complete faith in America that my President Reagan lived so completely... it was always the same for me. A quiet but profound certainty that was at once surprise, glee, relief, laughter, pride... and even deeper, of love and peace within my soul. I love them both for that gift, for believing in my country; for believing in me.
President Reagan was... no, IS a Great American. If I were half the man he is, I'd be ten times the man I am.
As Secretary Stanton remarked in 1865: "Now, he belongs to the Ages".
CGVet58
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