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Let Them Go Their Way
Conservative Political Action Conference ^ | March 1, 1975 | Ronald Reagan

Posted on 11/12/2008 11:13:01 PM PST by erkyl

Since our last meeting we have been through a disastrous election. It is easy for us to be discouraged, as pundits hail that election as a repudiation of our philosophy and even as a mandate of some kind or other. But the significance of the election was not registered by those who voted, but by those who stayed home. If there was anything like a mandate it will be found among almost two-thirds of the citizens who refused to participate...

Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party”—when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls...

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people...

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine...

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle...It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

(Excerpt) Read more at conservative.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: conservatism; cpac; newgop; reagan
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God bless Ronald Reagan. How we need him now. How I miss his voice of reason in this tumultuous storm.
1 posted on 11/12/2008 11:13:02 PM PST by erkyl
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To: erkyl

It seems every time we vote for Republicans expecting them to act like Reagan, we’ve been screwed. I only hope the RNC had the brains to keep the gipper on permanent cryofreeze so that he may one day be revived in our most desperate hour.


2 posted on 11/12/2008 11:17:18 PM PST by DiogenesLaertius
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To: erkyl

I was reading a bunch of Reagan’s speeches the other day. Great stuff there.


3 posted on 11/12/2008 11:19:39 PM PST by smokingfrog (If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: erkyl

4 posted on 11/12/2008 11:21:04 PM PST by counterpunch ( We must not re-fight 2008 in 2012.)
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To: smokingfrog

5 posted on 11/12/2008 11:21:10 PM PST by smokingfrog (If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: erkyl

Do you remember when people used to laugh at Reagan? Joke about him being senile or stupid or half-asleep? Both sides of the house used to do it.

Now, it is difficult to find anyone who would say anything against The Gipper.

I miss him.


6 posted on 11/12/2008 11:22:03 PM PST by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: erkyl

grreat post


7 posted on 11/12/2008 11:24:05 PM PST by thesetruths
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To: counterpunch

The amount of cocaine that was ingested in that photoshoot must have surpassed 3k easily.


8 posted on 11/12/2008 11:27:12 PM PST by My Favorite Headache (Forget the 3AM phone call. Obama can not even answer the phone at 3PM.)
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To: counterpunch

Wow, so there really was a time when Stevie Nicks was actually attractive...... who knew?


9 posted on 11/12/2008 11:31:36 PM PST by Enchante (Make Fox News come clean on the hoax attacks on Governor Sarah Palin!!!)
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To: erkyl

His words are still relevant today...the GOP should listen to them.


10 posted on 11/12/2008 11:34:08 PM PST by scott7278 (It's going to be a rough four years on the good ship Obamapop.)
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To: erkyl

There will be another with the wisdom of Ronald Reagan. We didn’t need to burn the big tent to the ground, the DemocRATS did that for us! Now we need to pick ourselves up and move forward. Looking back only serves to remind us where we’ve been NOT where we are going! Great leaders are born out of adversity. Our party’s message has been twisting in the wind content to fit the mold of the day. Our core principles have been cast aside. We must return to and champion the true conservative principles that made America great. God, Family, Country.


11 posted on 11/12/2008 11:37:11 PM PST by teletech (Friends don't let friends vote DemocRAT)
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To: erkyl
Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness.

Thirty-three years ago that was probably true, but that America is dead and gone. What's left is a land mass populated by cretins and parasites who have absolutely no respect for the military and who vote for big government to confiscate money from their neighbors and "redistribute" it to them. It is not an America worth defending anymore.

Whatever. I just live here.
Every man for himself.

12 posted on 11/12/2008 11:40:08 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: scott7278

I was thinking the same thing. Instead of standing around scratching their heads wondering what the RNC should do now, how about looking at what Reagan did? With the exception of a few new challenges we face today(terrorism, bail-outs, etc.), his speech from 75 could be given by Sarah Palin tomorrow and be an inspiration to the party. Follow the link and read the whole thing. It’s almost prophetic.


13 posted on 11/12/2008 11:40:46 PM PST by erkyl (The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, stay neutral)
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To: Lancey Howard

I disagree...I think the hunger to feel a sense of mission and greatness was stolen by Obama and ‘the one’ messiah mentality of his followers. They latched on to his ‘appeal’ and his blackness, and the idea that they were a part of making history. Americans will always feel hungry to feel like they are making a difference—even if it is just voting for someone for all the wrong reasons.

But, hey, I get what you mean about the parasites and cretins.


14 posted on 11/12/2008 11:44:21 PM PST by erkyl (The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, stay neutral)
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To: Enchante

Stevie Nicks is the one dressed like a cheerleader, right?


15 posted on 11/12/2008 11:52:19 PM PST by counterpunch ( We must not re-fight 2008 in 2012.)
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To: erkyl

Frankly, it sickens me to think of the ones who stayed home being on *my* side when they so selfishly ELECTED Obama by staying home.

I don’t know that I want to have anything to do with them. They’re miserable people if they stayed home and permitted Obama to win.

This is just sickening. Let them become Democrats — I don’t want to be allied with the people who have inflicted Obama on me and this country.

I cannot tell you how angry I am at those traitors — yes TRAITORS. Scum. Worse than Obama.


16 posted on 11/13/2008 12:13:30 AM PST by Technical Editor
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To: teletech

We must return to and champion the true conservative principles that made America great. God, Family, Country.


Shouldn’t Freedom and Liberty be included among the principles that make America great? Almost any nation could say they adhere to ‘God, Family, Country.’


17 posted on 11/13/2008 12:31:30 AM PST by FFranco
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To: FFranco
Shouldn’t Freedom and Liberty be included among the principles that make America great? Almost any nation could say they adhere to ‘God, Family, Country.’

Had I been thinking more clearly, I would have added those too. Freedom is what will be severly damaged and tested under Obama. I pray God we can get Freedom back after Obama.

18 posted on 11/13/2008 12:35:59 AM PST by teletech (Friends don't let friends vote DemocRAT)
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To: Enchante

I don’t know, I think I like her better without the beard... but that blonde in back is a hottie....


19 posted on 11/13/2008 2:11:08 AM PST by Uriah_lost (There is no balm in Gilead....)
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To: erkyl
If there was anything like a mandate it will be found among almost two-thirds of the citizens who refused to participate...

It wasn't the stay-at-home voter who decided this election. It was the idiots brainwashed by the media and mesmerized by meaningless platitudes of undefined "Change" and "Hope".

I believe Sarah Palin pretty well overcame the earlier reluctance of conservatives to vote for a McCain ticket

Of a total population of about 305 million there was a record high voter turnout of more than 126 million, or about 41% of the population. That is 4 million more than 2004.

But In 2008 the republican vote dropped to 58 million from 62 million in 2004 - a loss of 4 million. On the other hand, the 2008 democrat vote was well over 66 million; almost 8 million more than the they pulled in 2004.

So in 2008 there were about 4 million swing voters and about 4 million new voters, most of whom voted for Obama.

If McCain could have held onto the 4 million voters lost from 2004 he might have won the election.

Compare the total turnout in 2008 with recent presidential elections:

2008 - 126,500,095

2004 - 122,293,548

2000 - 105,417,475

1996 - 96,275,401

1992 - 104,423,923

1988 - 91,594,686

This information and more can be found here:

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html

20 posted on 11/13/2008 2:33:47 AM PST by Iron Munro (Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority it is time to pause and reflect. -- Mark Twain)
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