[quote author="no_vaseline" date=1257828244]Anyway, my opinion of the role of government differs very much from all the Republicans I know. Much like the ref in a basketball game (he's a pain in the ass, but you need him to keep the game square and fair), getting rid of the ref is no solution. The government has an obligation to keep the majority from taking advantage of the minority. And that is in direct conflict with Reagan and his ideals of "Government is always the problem and never the solution", so there you are. </blockquote>
Just stop. Either you are completely and intentionally ignorant of the facts or you are trolling. In any case, take the time to educate yourself on both the context and the full meaning of his words rather than just the screed you've been swallowing:
<blockquote> These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from<strong> the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history</strong>. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people. <strong>Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity</strong>.
Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity. But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children?s future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?
We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding -- we?re going to begin to act beginning today. The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.
<strong><em>In this present crisis</em>, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.</strong> From time to time we?ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?
All of us together -- in and out of government -- must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable with no one group singled out to pay a higher price. We hear much of special interest groups. Well our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries, or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines.<strong> It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we?re sick -- professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truck drivers.</strong> They are, in short, ?We the People.? This breed called Americans.
Well,<strong> this Administration?s objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs</strong>.
All must share in the productive work of this ?new beginning,? and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy.
With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the world. So as we begin, let us take inventory.
We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the states or to the people.
All of us -- all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.
Now, <strong>so there will be no misunderstanding, it?s not my intention to do away with government</strong>. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. <strong>Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.</strong> If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.</blockquote>
Reagan wasn't against government, he was against government control of our lives. It was a Democrat who repealed Glass-Steagal and set this particular ball rolling, not Reagan. You have more in common with him than you think, if you stop and read what he actually wrote and said.
