Ronald Reagan Quote

"Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite."

by:	Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President
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Categories:	Freedom, Law, Liberty, Responsibility
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The reality is that the US political scene represents the state of democracy in general. Add to that the 3rd world’s unsaturated individualism and hunger for power and we find a globe completly at the mercy of ordinary people applying ordinary abilities within an environment that requires ‘super natural’ qualities.  -- WJ, South Africa
Actually, I think in ANY area of life (such as medicine, for example) we are all victims of a self-appointed elite, but in government, it's a classic problem.  -- Tom Osborne, Los Angeles, CA
History repeatedly proves that truth to be self evident  -- Mike, Norwalk
I agree with all of the above...it's not a new problem.  -- Melissa, Florida
To see where we are headed under Komrad Obama , Reed, Pelosi, Biden, and the rest of the gang , watch the movie "The Lives Of Others".  -- jim k, austin
What a jerk Reagan was. Yeah like free enterprize gave blacks a leg up, kept our rivers and streams clean, worked to benefit us all with dirty coal, etcetera. Again Reagan was a jerk with these sutpid comments. Had alzheimers the entire time he was in the White House. Worked against the Brady Bill but said it was a great bill when Clinton signed it. .  -- Waffler, Smith
and yet he & others of his type are responsible for overspending us into deeper & deeper debt, how incredibly dishonest!  -- Anonymous, Reston, VA, US
One thing about Reagan, he didn't tell us how terrible things are every 5 minutes like Obama and Biden. Of course, this constant noise from O and the gang is a CYA ploy so that when the stimulus bill makes things even worse , he can always say that he just didn't realize how bad things really were, and ,naturaly, he'll need 4 more years to get it done. My hope is that we survived 4 years of Jimmy Carter and then had the good sense to turn him out.  -- jim k, austin
Reagan was a self-appointed elite. He began as an actor in Hollywood. He believed EPA regulations hurt democracy. Nonsense! Obama on the other hand attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Which of these two is really a deserving elite?  -- Mark, Buffalo, NY
waffler, anonymous and Mark, You guys are morons. Go to some liberals website where lies are encouraged.  -- Blue, fredericksburg, va
Mark, WHAT? lol Are you saying the college attend determines one's ability, power, authority, or right to be elite? This nation was founded on the assumtion that among the powers of the earth, each is entitled to a separate and equal station. Would someone please explain to me how illuminating the Republicans unconstitutional actions justifies the Democrats expansion of such wrongs (or the reverse thereof).  -- Mike, Norwalk
Hit the nail on the head. Too bad we can't seem to find another like him. Our press now will make certain that any one that even comes close will be smothered in so much negative propaganda that the people will never have a chance to recognize the worth of the victim. The press is about to have its power become absolute as soon as the congress and Obama decide how they are going to snuff out all opposing opinions. In New Zealand they already have laws that are in place that have caused the removal of all opposing opinion and the dems are looking at the example as a possible "solution" here. In New Zealand a "complaint" will shutdown the radio/TV/internet provider until it is resolved. This has resulted in all media sources running scared of anything not approved by the left. IT"S COMMING..  -- warren, olathe
WJ the only supernatural powers needed is a population that is truly free. To be free is not just political. It has to include religious freedom as well. The state can not be a theocracy within a democracy. That type of government has no liberty. Poverty and oppression is caused by a lack of liberty not a lack of socialism or liberal policies.  -- warren, olathe
Absolutely. Obama is doubling the debt in order to do exactly this. I am convinced now that the goal is to crash all the world's currencies in an effort to solidify the new world order's intent to merge all national economies into a single controlled system underneath a fascist world government. All they need is the right global crisis -- the global warming thing didn't really catch on, but this one might. The Demos have always been ready to abandon ship to the globalist bankers without whom nearly none of the statist / social engineering programs being proffered would ever see the light of day.  -- E Archer, NYC
Reagan was a real example of the American Dream realised and one of the few people in government who believed in the greatness of America. He said, "Let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams." He is the only President I would even consider adding to Mt. Rushmore!  -- J. B. Wulff, Bristol
Karl Marx believed that a strong free enterprise system was necessary to build the infrastructure in order to make socialism possible. Once a society was prosperous it would be able to bring in socialism and then survive off of the infrastructure capitalism had built. He had no foresight of how technology would boom and infrastructures would always need updated. It was a common belief at that time that everything that could be invented already was. In the late 19th century the person in charge of the U.S. patent office wanted it shut down because he felt that there was no further need for it. Soon after Obama has his way we can shut down the patent office because no one will have a reason to invent or try to profit from a new technology. The state would just confiscate it anyway.  -- warren, olathe
What an ironic quote - it claims exactly the opposite of reality today. Free enterprise gone amok in the form of greed by overlending banks, overreaching buyers, misguided securitization of bad loans is the direct cause of the housing bubble and the rapid collapse into this recession / depression. So free enterprise actually led to huge govt bailouts (i.e. deficits) which are requested in person by the business fat cats, the accompanying increase in regulation, and eventual higher taxes. This financial collapse given to us by free enterprise is destroying much of the world's wealth and economic activity. It will oppress everyone and threaten the middle class along with the traditional "American dream". Thank you, lenders and investment bankers!! Don't get me wrong -- I believe capitalism is the best economic system -- when handled responsibly. But Reagan's quote is indeed 180 degrees off of today's reality. Free enterprise invented easy credit out of greed and it is now collapsing after the gluttony. We are all paying the price. Government is the only hope for any kind of orderly result against such a massive failure. We should all pray for it to succeed. Also to JB, The only reason to have Reagan on Mt Rushmore is the accuracy of depicting his head in stone -- Bush 2 could fit in on that basis also. But since neither were exactly friends to the Nat'l Park Service, maybe they should just have monuments on the site of Enron's headquarters.  -- WLB, E Hampton
Is it any wonder people like our new messiah, oops, I mean President get a god complex when people treat him like a god? The lefts savior is here. I'm not sure what he's saving, but he's here.  -- Ken, Allyn, WA
It was not Reagan who led us to this hole. If only all Presidents were as inspiring as he was... His dream is everyone's dream, with the exception of those who let themselves be convinced that protection is worthier than inspiration.  -- Elisabeth, Astoria, NY
I love how the more simplistic (socialists) here seem to want to blame free enterprise for everything. We've never had free enterprise, and we never will as long as governments insist on being its partner and controller. In other words its parasite.  -- J Carlton, Calgary
Heard this quote on Fox News this morning. It describes our current government perfectly. The Reagan spirit lives on.  -- DK, Murrieta, CA
What an ominous quote from the grave. Everything that has undermined Capitalism has been a failure of government--an over-bloated beaurocracy that fails to follow the Constitution as well as it's own rules. We are plagued by these self-annointed intelligensia who love to control things from their University teaching jobs and their political power and their books (they all seem to have one), and few of them lack the meddle and common sense it takes to start a real enterprise.  -- Tomato Cain, Boston
I couldn't help but notice Kamrade Waffler's observation that free enterprise hasn't given blacks a "leg up". Wow! They've been voting Democrat fo 50 years and they're still poor and on welfare. Maybe it doesn't have much to do with government at all...or maybe they've been "helped" right into subservience by their addiction to welfare? The only blacks I know that are doing well, are self supporting and very much involved in free enterprise. Go figure...  -- J Carlton, Calgary

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