A Conservative: The Master of His Destiny What is a Reagan conservative? In President Reagan’s first autobiography, Where’s the Rest of Me, he wrote, “The classic liberal used to be the man who believed the individual was, and should be forever, the master of his destiny. That is now the conservative position.” To think that conservative principles will lead the individual to be the “master of his destiny” is a powerful concept. Do you remember how liberal views dominated nearly every major institution for a good part of the century? Do you recall that the New Deal, the Fair Deal and the Great Society produced a government that took an average of 45% of the national wealth and were tagged by Ronald Reagan as “shopworn panaceas”? Michael Deaver commented that “even NPR’s idea of a ‘balanced political dialogue’ was a pair of Democrats and a reporter from the Washington Post.” On a hot August night at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan defined the basic principles of conservatism. That speech led to “A Time for Choosing” airing nationally on October 27, 1964. “I gave basically the same talk I’d been giving for years,” he wrote in An American Life, “altering it slightly so that it became a campaign speech for Barry. 1) I recounted the relentless expansion of the federal government, 2) the proliferation of government bureaucrats who were taking control of American business, and 3) I criticized liberal Democrats for taking the country down the road to socialism.” Our Declaration of Independence and Constitution do not legislate prosperity, equality of wealth or even happiness. They contemplate a political system and government institutions that free individuals to build prosperity, work for financial reward, and pursue happiness. True to the work of the Founding Fathers, Ronald Reagan urged Americans to reclaim the liberties taken being taken from us. To be the master of our destinies. When he defeated Edmund G. “Pat” Brown in 1966 by a margin of 58% to 42%, Ronald Reagan said “a new wind was blowing in America…there was unrest in the country and it was spreading across the land like a prairie fire.” How do we keep those fires burning? “Since January 2008,” Governor Tim Pawlenty wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “The private sector has lost nearly 8 million jobs and the local, state and federal governments have added 590,000.” In light of such growth, recall Ronald Reagan’s challenge at CPAC in 1977: “My friends, the time has come to start acting to bring about the great conservative majority party we know is waiting to be created. The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when?” Here then, are the core conservative principles or talking points that Ronald Reagan defined at CPAC, in Stump Speeches, Addresses from the Oval Office and in writing because the heart of the issue was “principled politics”: a.
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Scale back the size of the federal government Reduce taxes, deregulate, cut government spending and remove government intrusion Return to the people the freedoms usurped from them by bureaucrats Support the free market “as the greatest provider of the people” Defend liberty and the Constitution in order to recapture our dreams and our pride as Americans Restore American military strength to preserve our freedom Protect and enhance the values that strengthen and promote individual freedom “If not by us, who? If not now, when?”~Ronald Reagan 1977