Reagan Quotes

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He may have been scary at times, but he had some good comments:

The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.

I've laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

 

Some of those are classics. Thanks for the reminder.

 

I think we have Reagan's acting career to thank for some of his quotes. He was never at a loss for dropping bons mots all over the place, or some other type of classic one-liner.

 

It was actually comments like those that were scary. And not because of the richness of their content, but for their lack of content, their overall emptiness.

I won't even begin to compare him to such giants as Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln, John Adams etc, but here's one by JFK that's one of my favorites:

Now, about content...

 

I second Chandos. Some of those were just scary, such as how he encouraged the people to have distrust for the government. I am not pro-government, but he was a ****ing president, he should not say things like that, period.

 

Reagan's quotes here mostly give a good picture of his character - but they don't really pin him down to any course of action at all. You can't really apply them to any situations and use them to work out what he'd do - they don't even have any sort of opinion in them. They're nearly all just witty observation, and very clever because of that.

JFK's quote that Chandos gives is another great example - all very well meaning and patriotic, but what on earth does it mean? It doesn't seem to lead anywhere. It gives him public support with which he can do *anything* he wants - "Just look at what he said! He must love America!" You can read into it in a huge number of ways - lots of political wiggle room.

Similarly with Reagan. He understands the average citizen's view of the government perfectly - with just the right mix of cynicism and optimism. Nothing in those quotes will alienate or offend anyone *except* the government; and he's the man to put all that right. He understands so clearly; he must be.

Staple politics with a fresh citrus twist.

 

Doesn't lead anywhere? I'll start breaking it down, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on the obvious. JFK is saying that government can be a force for good. It is the opposite of what we hear in Reagan's comments about government, if we can all agree about these notions:

National purpose is, of course, government policy, or if you will "national action" and it's agenda should consist of those things which promote "human liberty, dignity, etc." But first we have to agree that these aspects of a national agenda are what we desire. Then we can work from there. There's much more here and I'm sure you can work out the specifics...

 

I nearly posted a cutting and deeply cynical reply which would have got everything horribly wrong.

I stand by what I said about Reagan's quotes but JFK's I read completely backwards. I don't know why, but I saw it as trying to define humanity with government or something strange...

Whatever I thought, I understand it now, and it's an admirable statement. (Although the second half of the first sentence seems to be there more for dramatic effect and to get the theme of progess and the word 'compassion' in somehow. And "the experiences of his" would make more sense as just "experience,". Though this is just me being picky and trying to salvage some reason for disliking it Snap reaction I'm afraid - "It's politics - I must hate it!"

But all statements about JFK's quote being empty are cheerfully withdrawn with apologies.

EDIT: (Added the word 'cheerfully'. Inspired by Sideshow Bob's parole hearing.)

 

Thanks for the gracious reply, RQ. There is a certain cynisim that pervades national politics these days, and the current crop of politicians have only deepened the problem. I don't know if people felt the same way during the time of JFK. But I get the feeling that the times were perhaps a bit more optimistic than now. It seems the tragic death of JFK began the more recent age of cynisim. But I may be projecting a bit here.... JFK's statement shows what he is for and it has that optimism of the human condition and spirit and what it is capable of; Reagan's demonstrates what he is against, and contains that aspect of cynisim of which there is way too much these days.

[ April 19, 2005, 07:19: Message edited by: Chandos the Red ]

 

Sadly, if anyone here so much as suggested they had faith in the current government, most people in the room would think he was joking.

I don't really have a choice but to be a hardened cynic - but do my best to be blindly optimistic at the same time, out of faith in humanity/God and the everpresent escapism of literature - for which I blame the English politicians more than anything else. Most scarcely have any more hope than I for the future of England, and the rest either have no chance of getting into power or already are, and happen to be a talking weasel.

[Checks we are in fact in the AoLS and not Whatnots - continues rant.]

Reagan is being devious, imho - trying to say the government's in a mess, and that *I'm not one of them*. All of the negativity that was being directed against the establishment, he strengthened so that the people were all the more behind him. If he recognises the problems, he must mean to do something about them.

BTW, did Reagan ever write a book?

 

I'm not sure if Reagan could write a book, given his condition in his later years. But Nancy may have written one.

Reagan was a well connected politician who ran as if he'd never been one. Running as the "outsider" who was there to "fix" government, made him successful with those who needed to believe that the government was the source of all evil in the country. Politics today is more about manipulation and spin than it is about substance. Even more so, it is about the manipulation of images and what those images represent in the public's mind.

A good example of this manipulation, was how his people used to play Bruce Springstein's "Born in the USA" right before Reagan would take the stage. Then he would comment on how "Bruce was a young man singing about the greatness of America."

Of course, the song was a protest song, which was exactly the opposite of how Reagan was portraying it. Finally, Bruce called Reagan's people and made them stop misrepresenting his song. No one really even noticed. The deeper meaning was that if you were "for America" then you were obviously for Reagan; if you were for the other guys, then you were "unpatriotic" and against America. A lot of people buy into this type of manipulation.

 

I really like that one:

and that pretty witty one

Like, in: "The Iraqi oil will pay for all the expenses involved with liberating and rebuilding Iraq ... it'll be a cakewalk, too"

 

My own favorite Reagan quote:

"What happened to the rest of me!"--King's Row, 1941.

My favorite quote that he listened to (from Errol Flynn):

"Now for the Pacific and a crack at those Japs!"--Desperate Journey, 1942.

Unflappability in any and all circumstances is an admirable quality, as is the ability to deliver a deflecting (and often witty) quip. But don't mistake the glitter of these witticisms for profundity, or statesmanship or the emblem of greatness. Groucho Marx would've done at least as well.

[ April 19, 2005, 06:04: Message edited by: Cernak ]

 

... even more so as Reagan had a scriptwriter then just as he had when he was president ... so to say, it wasn't necessarily *his* wit.