Posted on 09/27/2001 9:32:09 AM PDT by gopno1
The Ronald Reagan Information Center
http://www.conservativebeacon.com/reagan/index.html
Reagan Resources on the Web
http://www.conservativebeacon.com/ReaganResources.html
"I have recently begun to receive fund-raising solicitations from the alumni association," I wrote, "seeking financial assistance from this graduating class for a specific campus project [I mentioned the project]. Clearly I will not contribute to this effort if I am not permitted to graduate this May. However, I also want to make it very clear to you that if I am forced to come back to this school for one class next semester to complete my graduation requirements I will not have fond memories of this institution. Any time I receive a similar solicitation in the future and I am somehow overcome with a burst of generosity, I expect my arm will grow six inches shorter as soon as I reach for my wallet."
Within three days of maililng that letter, I received an anxious call from the Dean of Students telling me that he had taken care of the problem. The last thing these schools want is to have one of their students graduate and become extremely successful (particularly in private industry), only to turn his back on the school when he is in a position to provide much-needed financial support.
My guess is that even a tenured professor will have a miserable on campus if the administration knows that he or she has antagonized a lot of students who have become leaders in industry.
I don't think the objective should be to change the professor's mind. You do your fellow students a service by showing them that there is more than one viewpoint, and that educated people do not necessarily come to liberal conclusions. It may also encourage people to demand access to points of view that the liberal media and educational material will NOT address. If you have the respect of your classmates and educate yourself on the issues well enough to give a counterpoint to your instructor's point, that should be enough.
Grandfather Economic Report - The Reagan Era
This author of this report, Michael Hodges, was encouraged by Milton Friedman, who gave the report his Personal Endorsement in his new book of memoirs.
I think it started around 1993 when Hillary "Cattle Futures" Clinton and Bill "Whitewater" Clinton took office.
And ended, oh, about January 2001, right after the Sleazeballs-in-Chief departed with the White House furniture.
It is out of print but can be found. One of the best books ever written on Reagan and the 80's.
And all the so-called intellectuals were pooh-pooh-ing Reagan's prediction of the demise of the "evil" Soviet Empire. Who's the fool now?
"The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and for the spread of civilization. The West won't contain Communism, it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written." (Ronald Reagan, Commencement Address at University of Notre Dame, May 1981)
"It is a vulgar mistake to think that most people in Eastern Europe are miserable." (Paul Samuelson, Professor of Economics, MIT, Nobel Laureate, Economics, 1981)
"The Soviet Union is not now, nor will it be during the next decade, in the throes of a true systematic crisis, for it boasts enormous unused reserves of political and social stability that suffice to endure the deepest difficulties." (Seweryn Bialer, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University, Foreign Affairs Magazine, 1982/3)
"I found more goods in the shops, more food in the markets, more cars on the street ... those in the United States who think the Soviet Union is on the verge of economic and social collapse, ready with one small push to go over the brink are wishful thinkers who are only kidding themselves." (Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 1982)
"In an ironic sense, Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great revolutionary crisis - a crisis where the demands of the economic order are colliding directly with those of the political order. But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxism-Leninism, the Soviet Union. What we see here is a political structure that no longer corresponds to its economic base, a society where productive forces are hampered by political ones. It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history by denying freedom and human dignity to its citizens. A march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history." (Ronald Reagan, Address to the British Parliament, June 1982)
"All evidence indicates that the Reagan administration has abandoned both containment and detonate for a very different objective: destroying the Soviet Union as a world power and possibly even its Communist system. [This is a] potentially fatal form of Sovietphobia ... a pathological rather than a healthy response to the Soviet Union." (Stephen Cohen, Princeton University Sovietologist, 1983)
"Let us pray for the salvation of all those who live in the totalitarian darkness - pray that they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they [Soviet rulers] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.... I urge you to beware the temptation ... to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of any evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil." - (Ronald Reagan, Speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983)
"That the Soviet system has made great material progress in recent years is evident both from the statistics and from the general urban scene...One sees it in the appearance of well-being of the people on the streets...and the general aspect of restaurants, theaters, and shops... Partly, the Russian system succeeds because, in contrast with the Western industrial economies, it makes full use of its manpower." (John Kenneth Galbraith, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, 1984)
"On the economic front, for the first time in its history the Soviet leadership was able to pursue successfully a policy of guns and butter as well as growth ... The Soviet citizen-worker, peasant, and professional - has become accustomed in the Brezhnev period to an uninterrupted upward trend in his well-being ..." (John Kenneth Galbraith, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, New Yorker Magaine, 1984)
"What counts is results, and there can be no doubt that the Soviet planning system has been a powerful engine for economic growth...The Soviet model has surely demonstrated that a command economy is capable of mobilizing resources for rapid growth." (Paul Samuelson, MIT, Nobel laureate in economics, 1985)
"It's clear that the ideologies of Communism, socialism and capitalism are all in trouble." (James Reston, New York Times, 1985)
"In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards... Even today, the Soviet Union cannot feed itself. The inescapable conclusion is that freedom is the victor. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (Ronald Reagan, Speech at the Brandenburg Gate, 1987)
"Can economic command significantly compress and accelerate the growth process? The remarkable performance of the Soviet Union suggests that it can. In 1920 Russia was but a minor figure in the economic councils of the world. Today it is a country whose economic achievements bear comparison with those of the United States." (Lester Thurow, Professor of Economics, MIT, The Economic Problem, 1989)
Here's a cover-note: "From 1975 to 1979, Ronald Reagan wrote more than 600 radio addresses in his own hand, planning every plank in what would become his presidential platform." [emphasis added] How's that for an English Comp. professor?
Nein. This is a prime opportunity for one to choose principle over one's personal gain. Besides, in my experience, many professors (even leftists) admire students brave enough to speak up and challenge the professor ... much the way teenagers really respect their parents even as they think they are @ssholes for not letting them go to a party. My recommendation would be to do what your heart tells you is right and let the chips fall where they may.
D@mn, the more I look back on it the more I realize what a blessing Reagan was.
NaW.
(The "Decade of Greed" sure as hell beats the "Decade of Decline"...)
This link is correct AND works. Grandfather Economic Report - The Reagan Era
GPA doesn't mean squat for the first job either. If it does, you are being profiled. Your employer is looking for a legally defensible excuse to turn you down.
Ozzy was only drop in the bucket of negative influences on kids in those days, just as Marilyn Manson is now----but he was still a negative influence. He certainly wasn't helping anybody to feel better about themselves or causing them to do the right thing. Don't get me wrong--there are a couple Ozzy tunes that I like, but there isn't much of redeeming value in there.
Very true ... Everyone remembers Reagan's quote: "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall." Everyone remembers his "Evil Empire" speech. But my favorite Reagan quote was the day in 1983 he visited the NYSE to ring the opening bell: "We're going to turn the bull loose."
I also remember all too well the gas shortages and government-imposed that went away as soon as Reagan did away with price controls.
Within two years of Reagan taking office, his supply side approach slayed the unslayable dragons of inflation and high unemployment. Plus he DOUBLED federal revenues (not necessarily a good thing, but a fact nevertheless).
What your professor calls "The Decade of Greed" was the exuberance of recovery, of people pursuing happiness, and of production.
Far preferable to the Decade of Sleaze, which is the apt name for the '90s. Certainly the 90s gave us all of the excesses of the 80s, PLUS the utter rejection of decency, civility, personal responsibility, sense of community and appreciation of America's founding ideals.
You should point out that your professor's characterization of "greed," is in and of itself biased, since one man's "greed" is another man's "initiative."
You should remind her that the drive to make our lives better is a universal characteristic of every human being that ever lived. It is our nature. It's why your classmates are in school. It's why she wants tenure, and salary raises. Recognition of the fact that all humans strive for personal betterment is the underlying theme of the founding documents and philosophy of the USA. Tell her that when she characterizes other people's so-called "greed," she is really demonstrating her own vice -- envy.
The drive to better ourselves occurs in every society that ever existed. In the Soviet Union, there was plenty of greed. But instead of being channeled productively (i.e. providing value by trading with others), Soviet greed manifested itself by encouraging advancement to power within the Communist party and the government.
I reject the characterization of the human drive for personal fulfillment as "greed." But whatever you call it, it is obvious that capitalism and freedom channels that drive productively -- by forcing us to meet other people's needs, and to give value in exchange for the money we earn.
Under any other system that your teacher would care to name, "greed" has only one outlet -- corruption and the lust for political power over other human beings.
Tell your teacher that she needs to raise her consciousness. Ask her if she agrees with the following statement: "people are greedy and therefore need to be controlled." She probably does. Then ask her whether those doing the controlling are also greedy. Then ask her exactly what is the difference between her philosophy and classic fascism or communism. If she scoffs and says that fascism and communism are completely different, tell her that they are as different as vanilla and French vanilla -- differnet variations of the same flavor. And that flavor is about human slavery and oppression.
Another fun thing to do to liberals like this is to ask them WHY slavery is wrong. The fact is, it is only wrong if you accept the language in the Declaration of Independence. If you reject that language, then you really can't make the objective case that slavery is always wrong. (After all, if the majority approves of it, isn't that democracy, and isn't the will of the people all that matters?)
Then ask her if she doesn't agree that the recognition of human liberty as the basis for legitimate government is the most important political insight -- bar none -- of the past 800,000 years. And ask her, since the USA is the ONLY government in history built on that ideal, whether America does not, in fact, have the right to proclaimn itself the most moral nation in history?
If she starts talking about slavery and other injustices, ask her whether her point is that because slavery once existed here, does that mean that the idea of individual political liberty is invalid? Or does it just mean that we need to constantly rededicate our nation to "living out the meaning of its creed" (to quote Dr. Martin Luther King). Ask her whether America's sometime failures to live up to its founding vision means that our "creed" is invalid, and that tyranny is preferable.
Ask her how she can characterize any free person as "greedy" for pursuing his or her own personal fulfillment by trading goods and services voluntarily with others who are willing and able to pay for it.
Lastly, ask her if the essence of true "greed" is not the desire to take other people's money, to spend on whatever purposes one deems necessary or appropriate or "socially just", without offering something of value in return, and without giving those people whose money you have taken the option to say: "No, thank you?"
Don't get me started. I wish I was in that class.
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