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.

Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of Government.

It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We’re not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.

So with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams.

–ronald wilson reagan
( excerpt from 1st inaugural address, full text here and audio here.)

january 20th, 2006 was the 25th anniversary of reagan’s inauguration as our 40th president. many posts have been made about reagan’s impact on government and on this country. i will link to some of those at the end of this post. we don’t have to go that far back to see the results of forgetting what reagan said about limiting the growth of government. republicans have forgotten where they came from. they have forgotten about what happened in 1994, when gingrich and his band of merry reformers came to washington with a plan to make positive changes (otherwise known as the contract with america). we can disagree about the impact of the ’94 revolution, but voters seemed to agree with what the contract had to say.

so where are we today? neither party is interested in limiting the US government’s “unnecessary and excessive growth”. the main difference, as i previously wrote here, is that democrats and republicans disagree on what government should waste money on. it’s time that the republicans remembered what reagan said, and what gingrich did, because the american people are starting to understand that government programs are not the cure…they are the disease. this is not to say that we should dismantle every single government program, but we should examine the effectiveness of each to determine whether it is accomplishing the goal for which it was created. i’m not optimistic that this will happen under any collection of elected officials.

the message of positivity about this country that president reagan gave us is something we rarely hear these days. the common wisdom is that america is going in a bad direction and that this will not change any time soon. everything is wrong with america and, what’s more…THE WORLD HATES US! our government has set us on a destructive path, and we can never recover from the leadership of the bush 43 administration. EVER. this is what we are hearing today, and this is a deeply flawed message.

i believe in this country. i believe in its promise. i believe in the people of this country. people of courage, convictions, and strong family values. people whose views are no longer acceptable to the tolerant. people who will never end up on the evening news because they are authors of good stories. this is who we are. we can achieve so much if we all work together. this message has been lost somewhere in all the heated rhetoric and political point-scoring.

the people who represent us should reflect our beliefs and our values. it is now time to question authority. it is now time to ask ourselves whether those elected to serve us are doing the job we sent them to washington to do. if not, we must hold them accountable for their action/inaction and vote them out of office.

related:

a tribute to ronald reagan — cao’s blog
Reagan Revolution Weekend Trackbacks–courtesy of jay at stop the aclu
(this has all the links you will ever need)

somewhat related:
my favorite fictional political speech (from the american president)