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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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Ronald Reagan - State of the Union Address (Jan 25, 1988)
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| Parent | Parent Candidate |
| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Post Date | , 12:am |
| Description | Thank you. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, and distinguished members of the House and Senate, when we first met here seven years ago--many of us for the first time--it was with the hope or beginning something new for America. We meet here tonight in this historic Chamber to continue that work. If anyone expects just a proud recitation of the accomplishments of my administration, I say let's leave that to history: we're not finished yet. So my message to you tonight is, put on your work shoes--we're still on the job.
History records the power of the ideas that brought us here those seven years ago. Ideas like the individual's right to reach as far and as high as his or her talents will permit, the free market as an engine of economic progress and, as an ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao-tzu, said, "Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish; do not overdo it."
Well, these ideas were part of a larger notion--a vision, if you will, of America herself--an America not only rich in opportunity for the individual but an America, too, of strong families and vibrant neighborhoods, an America whose divergent but harmonizing communities were a reflection of a deeper community of values--the value of work, of family, of religion--and of the love of freedom that God places in each of us and whose defense He has entrusted in a special way to this nation.
All of this was made possible by an idea I spoke of when Mr. Gorbachev was here--the belief that the most exciting revolution ever known to humankind began with three simple words: "We the People"--the revolutionary notion that the people grant government its rights, and not the other way around.
And there is one lesson that has come home powerfully to me, which I would offer to you now. Just as those who created this Republic pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, so, too, America's leaders today must pledge to each other that we will keep foremost in our hearts and minds not what is best for ourselves or for our party, but what is best for America. In the spirit of Jefferson, let us affirm that, in this Chamber tonight, there are no Republicans, no Democrats, just Americans. |
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