Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 25, 2021 10:39:58 GMT 12
RONALD REAGAN'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE NATION. January 11, 1989
How very appropriate for our times, particularly 10 minutes into the speech when Regan says this:
"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People."
"We the People" tell the Government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver - the Government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the Government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free.
"This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I tried to do these past eight years.
"But back in the 1960's when I began, it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things - that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the Government was taking more of our freedom. I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say, "Stop!" I was a citizen-politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do.
"I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.
'As government expands, liberty contracts' - PERHAPS IT'S TIME FOR NEW ZEALANDERS TO REDISCOVER WHAT FREEDOM MEANS.
How very appropriate for our times, particularly 10 minutes into the speech when Regan says this:
"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People."
"We the People" tell the Government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver - the Government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the Government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free.
"This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I tried to do these past eight years.
"But back in the 1960's when I began, it seemed to me that we'd begun reversing the order of things - that through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the Government was taking more of our freedom. I went into politics in part to put up my hand and say, "Stop!" I was a citizen-politician, and it seemed the right thing for a citizen to do.
"I think we have stopped a lot of what needed stopping. And I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as government expands, liberty contracts.
'As government expands, liberty contracts' - PERHAPS IT'S TIME FOR NEW ZEALANDERS TO REDISCOVER WHAT FREEDOM MEANS.