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Opinion: Reagan’s soaring vision for immigration falls flat today
AJC ^ | 12/31/2023 | Bill Nigut

Posted on 01/02/2024 8:48:20 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27

It was Jan. 19, 1989. Ronald Reagan was in his final full day as president of the United States and was making remarks at a Presidential Medal of Freedom presentation. As he finished celebrating the achievements of the honorees, he turned to another subject that was on his mind:

“Since this is the last speech I will give as president, I think it’s fitting to leave one final thought, an observation about a country which I love.”

What followed is remembered as Reagan’s most majestic description of America as a welcoming harbor for immigrants. Here is just some of what he said:

“You can go to live in France but cannot become a Frenchman,” he said, quoting a letter he’d received during his tenure. “You can go to live in Germany, Turkey or Japan but you cannot become a German, Turk or Japanese. But anyone from any corner of the earth can come to live in America and become an American.

(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: immigration; reagan; soaring; vision
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To: Reverend Wright

Hm. So they were trying to bring it in and create some jobs...I am all for that, though not enthralled with any Chinese companies, nor the EV industry.

But perversely, part of me wants to force Lithium mining and battery production just to piss of Leftists, who scream on one hand we must all drive EVs, but on the other hand, don’t want lithium mining or battery production in their back yard.

I see your point, but the thing is, with the Federal government having become the gluttonous beast it is, displacing state and local rights, their tyranny is extending right into our back yards.

It reminds me of the famous Leon Trotsky quote which could be paraphrased to “National Politics”: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”


41 posted on 01/02/2024 8:05:46 PM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
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To: rlmorel

You are right that there is no escape from the Federal monster.

My point is that any political effort is better directed at the local level.

In DC the senators and congress are voting on 3000 page Bills written by lobbyists.

If you want to, for example, block the Chinese battery factory, it has to be at the local level.


42 posted on 01/02/2024 8:26:23 PM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: rlmorel

I’m reposting a (hopefully helpful)reply of mine to a FReeper who wrote “ The whole idea of Democrats ruling forever makes me incredibly depressed and angry.”

That’s their intent.

Depressed and angry people tend to act out of emotion - a decidedly leftist trait - and subordinate reason.

The result is often Bad.

There is always hope and Light. This nation has had countless Dark Moments….the Carter years with hostages and inflation and people pointing to the “ascending” Soviets; 9/11; Election Day 2016, and those are only recent Dark Moments.

At every such Moment, there was a Greek Chorus of surrendercons fueling the disparity, dangling poison pills of CWII, armed revolt, cheating, theft, and general abandonment of morality and principles.

Oh, and this lot of surrendercons ALWAYS says “yeah, but THIS time it is DIFFERENT.

Of COURSE it’s always different. That’s the way evil works….it is the master of disguises. At its core, however, it’s the same.

Thankfully, men and women of good character hold tight to God, and He delivers us from the jaws of despair. To wit : Reagan, National Resolve/dead OBL, and Trump.

FReeper SamAdams76’s quote about the 2016 election night is timeless: “I went to bed feeling like I had terminal cancer, and woke up like I was in full remission.

Now, prudence will dictate that we don’t become Pollyanna. It IS nasty nowadays, and situational awareness demands we take threats seriously AND take action morally.

But The End isn’t here yet. And while it’s easy to get down, there ARE moments of brightness that we forget - the whole BudLight backlash, two Ivy resignations, Christmas celebrations, and EVs aren’t selling. I don’t know what tomorrow looks like, but I have seen waaay too many buzzer beaters - and people beating cancer - to Surrender.


43 posted on 01/02/2024 8:30:15 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: FreedomPoster
”Ping. Still here?”

Yes, I’m still here (if you mean still here at Free Republic). I’m not still in Atlanta though. I have photos of our group at the FReep you mentioned… great memories too of you, our fearless leader.

We are living in a quiet and mostly conservative rural area now. Even the dozen or so BLM people who were gathering, peacefully with their signs, in front of the town’s government buildings once a week back in 2021 have stopped (once they realized how corrupt BLM had become). Now it’s more like the town closes down the street in front of the court house once a week in the summer evenings for people to gather for music and square dancing. And the whole county turns out on Saturdays for the farmer’s market.

44 posted on 01/03/2024 3:22:07 AM PST by Apple Pan Dowdy (... as American as Apple Pie. Normal is not coming back, but Jesus will. )
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To: Apple Pan Dowdy

Nice!

I’m further out now too, but not *that* far out.

Go look at that thread I linked, if you haven’t. Good times!


45 posted on 01/03/2024 5:01:02 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: DoodleBob

Thank you. That is more in line with how I feel, but this does feel different, and it bothers me.

But I am resolved to do something. As I said, I am trying to get involved at a local level, even though my town is as Leftist as they come. And I hate being involved in politics, even at this level.

But I have come to realize that, they want it that way. They want to make it unpalatable to people, so they will be left to do things without interference, the way THEY want to do it.

The upside is that I get to spend some time with people who are conservative at least once a month.

And my lifeline to conservatism is Free Republic, and people like you. So, Thank You.


46 posted on 01/03/2024 5:17:13 AM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
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To: rlmorel; Lazamataz

You’re welcome.

We all can/must take action however we can.

For some folks, it is “getting out of their comfort zone” as you’re doing. For others, it’s more grand, like running for office. For some people, it may be a sober discussion with a liberal that makes them check their premise that conservatives are nazis. It can be homeschooling, rising above at a PTA meeting, or being a beacon at work or play.

Not everyone can be Trump. And that’s what They want us to think…if we can’t be bigly in our defense of America, we are nothing. The left, the “champion of the little guy” is driven in their quest to conjure up futility, and have individuals to self-select out.

To be sure, they have won small battles; some men, you just can reach. There are MANY folks even here, who are lapping up doom pr0n, posting articles preaching TEOTWAWKI and sell surrender newsletters and gold, yet they accept fiat currency as payment. It’s kinda sad.

And yet, there are millions of Americans who are silently, as Buckley put it, standing athwart history yelling “Stop.” We know this is true by the language of the left/enemies of freedom and liberty and harmony. Read ANY story in the MSM about Trump, 2020, vaccines, parents, Bud Light, Hamas, etc. They HAVE TO insert “unfounded claims of fraud,” or “no evidence of more sudden deaths” or “despite the ACLU saying schools have a right to lie to parents” and so on. Indeed, there was an article last week on Hamas…the MSM parroted the Hamas-propagandized 20,000 dead stat like it was gospel, but HAD to note that Israel produced no evidence backing a claim that they’d killed some bad guys. As we used to say, what’s up with that?

Contrast this MSM approach with the Kennedy Assassination. Almost every story I read on this topic NEVER mentions that the Official Story is Oswald was The Guy. They routinely go into the Man on the Grassy Knoll. There is NEVER a qualifier, or if it is it’s raised as a historical relic…like something Dementia Grandpa would say that everyone disregards.

The inconsistency is deafening. And because of new media, they’re called out on it day after day.

The MSM absolutely knows there are millions of Americans who can see that they lie. We got them, dead to rights.

The delightful element of this reality, is the MSM is on the run. They won’t admit it, but they know it. Same with leftists pushing hatred, us vs them ideas, global warming, etc. - they are afraid and MUST reinforce the Lies with idiotic syntax.

Every time I see a qualifier, i.e., “there is no evidence the vaccines are ineffective,” an angel gets his wings and a patriotic kitten is born.

Again, situational awareness DEMANDS that we stay alert. The jar-shakers are persistent, and frankly our side can be prone to defeatism. Be on guard, and look for signs. FR is an absolute treasure insofar as I can scan the page and get a pretty solid take in what’s happening. And there are some folks like Laz who have been around forever and can provide perspective that others can’t.

I have no idea what we will see in 24. But I don’t work for the left; I work for The Holy Trinity. Through Them and only Them I can see the emptiness in the eyes of my accusers. The battle will be tough, and we will sustain temporal losses….but we know how this ends.

Have a blessed day FRiend.


47 posted on 01/03/2024 6:23:29 AM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

Very good post. And I also think the nature of the Internet is working in our favor-in the past, there were largely only two voices speaking: the voice of Government, and the voice of Mainstream Media.

When Walter Cronkite spoke on television, or the New York Times wrote something in their pages, it was regarded as Truth, even when it wasn’t, as was the case of Walter Durante saying there was no persecution or starvation of the Kulaks in Ukraine back in the early Thirties, or Cronkite saying the war was lost after the Tet Offensive.

Now, there are thousands or even millions of people on the Internet crowdsourcing events and news, and communicating in real time to determine, at the very least, the veracity of something.

Back in the day, each small clump of citizens were an isolated island.

So, yes. While it is more complicated today to have to think for yourself, it is far better than letting untrustworthy people think for you, which is what a vast number of people unquestionably did in the not-so-distant past.

As for anger, I am looking towers God for help.


48 posted on 01/03/2024 6:45:11 AM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
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To: rlmorel

bttt


49 posted on 01/03/2024 6:49:19 AM PST by linMcHlp
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To: larryjohnson

There have been more than 8 million illegal entries into the United States since Joe Biden was elected


50 posted on 01/05/2024 6:34:38 AM PST by larryjohnson (FReepersonaltrainer)
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