Former president of the United States Ronald Reagan died ten years ago on June 5. While leading the American people from 1981 to 1989 the U.S. economy grew, Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev famously tore down the Berlin Wall, and Reagan earned the title “The Great Communicator.”
Despite being an actor, former two-term governor of California, union president, and registered Democrat (until the mid 1950s), he eventually began to embrace conservative values on the basis that they were effective. Reagan acknowledged that the world has not become too complex for simple answers. He acknowledged and embraced policies that worked.
If the 40th president were alive today, he might offer the American people these reminders:
1). Government Overreach:
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”
2). Inequality:
“The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.”
3). Foreign Policy:
“We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression.”
4). Abortion:
“I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
5). The Welfare State:
“Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”
6). Entrepreneurship:
“There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.”
7). The National Debt:
“We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.”
8). Immigration:
“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”
9). Freedom:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
10). Leadership:
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”