Posted on 11/11/2007 8:29:03 PM PST by K-oneTexas
Since we are in the beginnings and middle of the Presidential Primary race and many conservatives are talking about Ronald Reagan, thought I'd post the principles I saw at another web site.
Principles of Reaganism
1. Never negotiate with Terrorists.
2. Lower taxes = more money in the economy = more jobs (the reverse is also true).
3. Less is better in government, because people are not angels.
4. Believe in people, be an optimist and they will do great things (the reverse is also true).
5. Keep our military strong, no one ever attacked the US for being too strong.
6. Don't be afraid to confront your enemies, they already hate you.
7. Negotiate from strength.
8. Don't back down from your principles.
9. Ignore your critics, but not your friends.
10. Government handouts = slavery, humans are not meant to be slaves - EVER.
11. Every problem has a simple solution, simple does not mean easy.
12. Self Reliance and Self Discipline are necessary parts of citizenship.
13. America is the greatest nation ever to arise from mankind because it provides opportunity and freedom. It will only remain great if it continues to do so.
14. Trust in people, not governments to do the right thing.
15. Politics stops at the water's edge. We must be Americans first.
16. Never trust anyone who doesn't believe in God. People who don't believe in God can do any evil thing for any reason.
For this discussion how about if we try to use Reagan's 16 Principles as a yardstick and compare the candidates. Lets see if there is one, two or even three that come close. They all can't hit them dead on, I doubt even one truely hits them all dead on.
A conservative political philospohy has many aspects, on a very high level: a strong foreign policy, law enforcement is a constitutional responsibility of State/Local government, economic properity, less is more in terms of government size, individual responsibility, legal immigration and border security ... these are just a few, I know there is more specifics on many numerous individual issues.
I hope this can be an exercise to shoe the philosophy of a given candidate where it fits in the Reagan yardstick. Hopefully, we can be civil and not use this to convince someone to vote for a specific candidate but give them facts to make a decision on their own. Just allow each of us to see who is where so we can make a reasoned decision.
Pick a principle and give specifics facts. Link to backup or source material if you want but it's not necessary as long as everyone can understand the situation you use and why you think that candidate exemplifies that principle. Maybe this can be for educational purposes only.
Surely one or two could unite us because the alternative presented by the liberal Democrats running is not healthy for America.
Fred’s the only Reagan Conservative in the race who is viable.
1. Never negotiate with Terrorists.
2. Lower taxes = more money in the economy = more jobs (the reverse is also true).
3. Less is better in government, because people are not angels.
4. Believe in people, be an optimist and they will do great things (the reverse is also true).
5. Keep our military strong, no one ever attacked the US for being too strong.
6. Don’t be afraid to confront your enemies, they already hate you.
7. Negotiate from strength.
8. Don’t back down from your principles.
9. Ignore your critics, but not your friends.
10. Government handouts = slavery, humans are not meant to be slaves - EVER.
11. Every problem has a simple solution, simple does not mean easy.
12. Self Reliance and Self Discipline are necessary parts of citizenship.
13. America is the greatest nation ever to arise from mankind because it provides opportunity and freedom. It will only remain great if it continues to do so.
14. Trust in people, not governments to do the right thing.
15. Politics stops at the water’s edge. We must be Americans first.
16. Never trust anyone who doesn’t believe in God. People who don’t believe in God can do any evil thing for any reason.
HEAR HEAR HEAR!!!
THOMPSON/ HUNTER ‘08!!!
Ping!
I guess specifics are hard to come by and 5 second bursts are all we can discuss ... 5 seconds as that’s about all it takes to say a name. Why does a candidate epitomize one of the principles?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.