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Ronald Reagan speech at 1976 Republican Convention...what can we learn from this?
National Center ^ | 02/10/08 | Ronald Reagan

Posted on 02/10/2008 8:15:53 AM PST by NewLand

If I could just take a moment; I had an assignment the other day. Someone asked me to write a letter for a time capsule that is going to be opened in Los Angeles a hundred years from now, on our Tricentennial.

It sounded like an easy assignment. They suggested I write something about the problems and the issues today. I set out to do so, riding down the coast in an automobile, looking at the blue Pacific out on one side and the Santa Ynez Mountains on the other, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was going to be that beautiful a hundred years from now as it was on that summer day.

Then as I tried to write -- let your own minds turn to that task. You are going to write for people a hundred years from now, who know all about us. We know nothing about them. We don't know what kind of a world they will be living in.

And suddenly I thought to myself if I write of the problems, they will be the domestic problems the President spoke of here tonight; the challenges confronting us, the erosion of freedom that has taken place under Democratic rule in this country, the invasion of private rights, the controls and restrictions on the vitality of the great free economy that we enjoy. These are our challenges that we must meet.

And then again there is that challenge of which he spoke that we live in a world in which the great powers have poised and aimed at each other horrible missiles of destruction, nuclear weapons that can in a matter of minutes arrive at each other's country and destroy, virtually, the civilized world we live in.

And suddenly it dawned on me, those who would read this letter a hundred years from now will know whether those missiles were fired. They will know whether we met our challenge. Whether they have the freedoms that we have known up until now will depend on what we do here.

Will they look back with appreciation and say, "Thank God for those people in 1976 who headed off that loss of freedom, who kept us now 100 years later free, who kept our world from nuclear destruction"?

And if we failed, they probably won't get to read the letter at all because it spoke of individual freedom, and they won't be allowed to talk of that or read of it.

This is our challenge; and this is why here in this hall tonight, better than we have ever done before, we have got to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we have ever been, but we carry the message they are waiting for.

We must go forth from here united, determined that what a great general said a few years ago is true: There is no substitute for victory, Mr. President.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1976; conservatism; conservatives; presidentreagan; whatwouldreagando
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Ronald Reagan ran against Gerald Ford for the 1976 Republican Presidential nomination, and lost a close race. At the close of the convention, President Ford asked Governor Reagan to make some impromptu remarks.

This is an excerpt from that speech...one that left many of the delegates wondering if they had just nominated the wrong man!

1 posted on 02/10/2008 8:15:58 AM PST by NewLand
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To: NewLand

I don’t think Republicans are in a position to learn anything from Reagan. The opportunities keep presenting themselves, and they keep blowing it.


2 posted on 02/10/2008 8:17:14 AM PST by coloradan (Failing to protect the liberties of your enemies establishes precedents that will reach to yourself.)
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To: NewLand

That it was 32 years ago!


3 posted on 02/10/2008 8:18:55 AM PST by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: NewLand

I feel like a subject of Commodius reading a speech by Cicero.


4 posted on 02/10/2008 8:20:00 AM PST by oblomov (Today's GOP brings to mind Nietzsche's statement, "When something is slipping, push it!")
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To: NewLand
Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-p-Nuu8hYQ.

5 posted on 02/10/2008 8:20:58 AM PST by krb (If you're not outraged, people probably like having you around.)
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To: NewLand
one that left many of the delegates wondering if they had just nominated the wrong man!

As I remember it the delegates who had had their arms nearly broken by all the arm twisting and intimidation were not wandering anything, they were absolutely certain they nominated the wrong man. That said I doubt if any could imagine that how such a resulting political disaster of a President could eventually lead to such a remarkable turnaround for the party but more importantly the country.

6 posted on 02/10/2008 8:23:30 AM PST by Biblebelter (I will NEVER EVER vote for McCain or any other current Senator.)
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To: NewLand
he erosion of freedom that has taken place under Democratic rule in this country, the invasion of private rights, the controls and restrictions on the vitality of the great free economy that we enjoy. These are our challenges that we must meet.

This is the passage that strikes me. Replace "Democratic" with "the Bush Administration's" (and read it in a more strident, whining, annoying voice), and you have the essence of a thousand liberal diatribes that accuse the current "fascist regime" of eroding our freedoms and our privacy. Ironic, isn't it?
7 posted on 02/10/2008 8:24:15 AM PST by RepublitarianRoger2
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To: NewLand

“We have got to stop talking about each other and...”

That is the truth of the matter, whether McCain loses in November or not, we have lost the town hall mentality, and that is to our weakening and to the Dhimmicrats strengthening.


8 posted on 02/10/2008 8:25:45 AM PST by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3/Cry havoc and let slip the RINOS)
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To: oblomov
I feel like a subject of Commodius reading a speech by Cicero.

I understand your analogy...just don't think it applies here. Maybe I just don't feel so helpless, either.

9 posted on 02/10/2008 8:32:14 AM PST by NewLand (Only one poll counts...our votes!)
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To: Biblebelter
I doubt if any could imagine that how such a resulting political disaster of a President could eventually lead to such a remarkable turnaround for the party but more importantly the country.

Exactly...and we didn't get there by giving up, throwing in the towel, or staying home!

10 posted on 02/10/2008 8:34:03 AM PST by NewLand (Only one poll counts...our votes!)
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To: NewLand

>>Maybe I just don’t feel so helpless, either.

I wish I didn’t. But government keeps ratcheting up in size and scope, and the GOP grows ever more liberal.


11 posted on 02/10/2008 8:39:42 AM PST by oblomov (Obama is so inspirational. He inspires me to offshore assets & go to as many gun shows as I can.)
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To: coloradan

They are in a position... THEY ARE UNWILLING!

LLS


12 posted on 02/10/2008 8:54:42 AM PST by LibLieSlayer ("There is no conservative alternative in the race. It's just that simple." Rush Limbaugh)
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To: NewLand; All

Thanks for this reminder and this link...

When I first saw your excerpt, I thought it must be a mistake. I didn’t see Reagan’s speech in 1976 and I don’t remember hearing the details (just how well it was received) but I remember this passage as one of his 3-4 minute radio essays that he had been doing for years leading up to his run in 1976.

This was one of the several hundred that he did over those years, and most he had written himself without the aid of speechwriters. In this instance, this “speech” was impromptu — he was called down from the gallery to deliver some “appropriate remarks”, and Reagan just knew what would be appropriate... Also, he could bring it back up, almost word-for-word as he had written it and delivered it for his radio essays probably months (almost a year) earlier.

The point is: Reagan believed these principles... he had thought about these issues and framed his ideas into the language of the 3 minute essay: get the point across clearly and quickly. Put it in terms that your detractors can’t assail (or if they try, they’ll look petty and ignorant). Focus on first principles and trust history — 100 years from now, he knew he would be proven right by having led with the conservative policies he KNEW to be right.

Why hasn’t the GOP produced another Reagan? First, he really was unique and we can’t expect a Reagan every 10-20 or even 30 years. We can hope for one, but it requires both a real Reagan-like individual and the conditions in the country to be right. Reagan was grounded in some 10 years of giving these speeches on the mashed-potato circuit for GE in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He then took those same ideas to Sacramento as Governor... proved the rightness of those ideas during his two terms there (even having done some compromising with the Democrat controlled state-house). He flirted with making a run at the presidency in 1968 but he wasn’t really ready. And then in the lead-up to 1976, he got the opportunity to distill his thinking into these 3 minute radio essays and it helped strengthen his resolve, his understanding, and his commitment to these principles. It helped him as a campaigner (as demonstrated in this “impromptu speech”) but more importantly, it helped him as a leader, internalizing his beliefs that would guide his policies (’What’s your plan for the Cold War?’ Answer: ‘We win, they lose!’).

Where can another Reagan come from? I look to the great (and potentially great) conservative governors we have: Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindahl... I hope Jindahl uses his next 4 years to put a spotlight on what “right thinking” policies can do to turn-around a disaster like Louisiana. I hope the conservative think-tanks are giving him every resource at their disposal to help him with all the challenges he faces.

And down the road, I suspect leaders and “Reagan wantabees” will figure out ways on the Internet to show their ideas and get these ideas circulated and into the mainstream. Rush and Laura Ingraham can only do so much (in large measure, they are doing commercially, what Reagan did with his 3 minute essays, but they have to politicize it much more).

Keep your eye on Bobby Jindahl... he’s the GOP’s version of Obama but of an accomplished background and the potential to demonstrate REAL IDEAS, not the vaccuum that Obama is offering.

JMHO.


13 posted on 02/10/2008 8:54:57 AM PST by ReleaseTheHounds ("You ask, 'What is our aim?' I can answer in one word: VICTORY - victory - at all costs...")
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To: oblomov
But government keeps ratcheting up in size and scope, and the GOP grows ever more liberal.

Take that little start to the recipe, add in a big helping of illigals to delute the strong taste of conservatism and you have a nice little socialist stew.

UUUMMMMM that's good!

14 posted on 02/10/2008 8:58:52 AM PST by ScratInTheHat (It's about the illegal’s stupid!)
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To: NewLand
1976 Republican Convention...what can we learn from this?

Apparently we didn't learn a damn thing!

15 posted on 02/10/2008 9:07:17 AM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote!)
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To: padre35
The Defeatists who are sputtering and pouting because of McCain should ask themselves what Ronald Reagan would do about Islamic Jihad. We already know what HClinton/Clinton or Barry “I’ll have a Muslim Summit” Obsama have planned.

McCain might only be 40% conservative. I’ll take it over the absolute certainty of a full-on socialist regime.

16 posted on 02/10/2008 9:09:55 AM PST by ishabibble (ALL-AMERICAN INFIDEL)
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To: NewLand
"This is an excerpt from that speech...one that left many of the delegates wondering if they had just nominated the wrong man!"

As well they might, having most assuredly done so, and thus having helped condemn us all to the national nightmare that was the Carter Administration.

17 posted on 02/10/2008 9:30:17 AM PST by Redbob (WWJBD: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: ReleaseTheHounds

I’ve been watching Bobby Jindahl for some years now, but I fear no man can emerge from the corrosive swamp that is Louisiana politics with both his ideals and his principles intact.

Mark Sanford is a much more likely candidate, but let’s not forget the pugnacious doctor who is an Oklahoma senator.


18 posted on 02/10/2008 9:37:56 AM PST by Redbob (WWJBD: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: NewLand
A large number of people who frequent this site have firmly rejected Reaganism in nearly every way, shape and form. They speak of RINOs. I suggest a RINO now means something entirely different: "Reaganites In Name Only."

To paraphrase the scriptures, RINOs "have the form of Reaganism, but deny the power thereof..." The scripture then says: "from such turn away." The savagery and dishonesty with which these people cut into other Republicans belies their claimed support for Reagan and his ideals.

19 posted on 02/10/2008 9:43:53 AM PST by Reaganesque (What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. --Oscar Wilde)
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To: Reaganesque
>>>>>A large number of people who frequent this site have firmly rejected Reaganism in nearly every way, shape and form. They speak of RINOs. I suggest a RINO now means something entirely different: "Reaganites In Name Only."

IIRC, you supported the liberal RINO, Willard Myth Romney. Now you're attempting to fictionalize exactly what happened this campaign season in order to give credence to his failed campaign effort.

Look here. Republicans rejected two liberals, Giuliani and Romney. Conservatives had no luck promoting two conservatives, Thompson and Hunter. Whats left are two imperfect choices, two moderates, McCain and Huckabee. Republicans and conservatives can make the best of those remaining choices, or allow the Democrats to win in November.

Whats say you?

20 posted on 02/10/2008 9:55:42 AM PST by Reagan Man (McCain Wants My Conservative Vote --- EARN IT or NO DEAL !!!)
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