Less Socialism, More Reagan

Michael Reagan, the eldest son of Ronald Reagan, has an article up at Townhall asking, "If the Reagan Era is dead, who killed it?" It's an important question.

Despite the notion from some in our party that we need to forget about President Reagan because he's in the past, his ideas and values continue to be applicable to our party, and more importantly, to our country. (As my wife put it, "Why would you want to abandon the guy who won two huge landslide elections? Don't you think there's something to be learned there?)

In this current election season, more than any other time in my life (almost two and a half decades), socialism is on the march in the United States, led by none other than Barack "Senator Government" Obama and Joe "It's patriotic to pay higher taxes" Biden. I'm sure this guy agrees with me, a man with the wisdom that comes with age and experience.

During the 1964 presidential race, Ronald Reagan gave an address on behalf of candidate Barry Goldwater titled "A Time For Choosing" but known to many simply as "The Speech." Reagan is at no loss for words on the threat of socialism. Here's just one paragraph:

As a former Democrat, I can tell you Norman Thomas isn't the only man who has drawn this parallel to socialism with the present administration. Back in 1936, Mr. Democrat himself, Al Smith, the great American, came before the American people and charged that the leadership of his party was taking the part of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland down the road under the banners of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. And he walked away from his party, and he never returned to the day he died, because to this day, the leadership of that party has been taking that party, that honorable party, down the road in the image of the labor socialist party of England. Now it doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? Such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment. Our Democratic opponents seem unwilling to debate these issues. They want to make you and I believe that this is a contest between two men...that we are to choose just between two personalities.

Forty-four years later, as we elect the forty-fourth president, we are still fighting socialism. Conservatism loves liberty and freedom. For this reason, socialism is among our greatest enemies. After all, Socialism / Communism / Liberalism was the reason William F. Buckley stood athwart history yelling "Stop!"

And if you look at the Wikipedia entry for Norman Thomas, you will find some interesting quotes. I'll cite just one:

The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.

It's bad enough that our banks are slowly being nationalized and the auto industry is being bailed out (not to mention so called "government corporations" like Fannie and Freddie) under the Bush administration. Not that McCain is perfect, but his campaign is the best vehicle to prevent the onslaught of socialism (sorry, Nick).

Sure the vehicle is a fixer-upper, and we'll need to trade it in for a better vehicle later on, but this is our choice right now: freedom or socialism?

Senator Government will raise our taxes, punish success, "spread the wealth around," take steps to socialize health care, strengthen the grip of government and choke our individual freedom in the process. This is the philosophy of the community organizer. At least McCain has a record of fighting wasteful spending. He knows that a recession is the WORST time to raise taxes (if there ever is a good time to raise taxes). In addition, Senator McCain knows all too well the cost of losing a war.

It comes down to this: Limited government has faith in its citizens. Big government dictates and demands obedience.

Watch this speech. It is as relevant today as it was forty-four years ago:

We need these Reagan principles and ideals now more than ever. No matter who wins in November, we will still need to work hard to beat back socialism. Even a McCain victory will not be a once-and-for-all death blow to this dangerous ideology. There's a lot of work to be done in Congress. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.