76-02-B8
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The Hope of Mankind
TranscriptSometimes I think we need to remind ourselves of what it is we're trying to preserve in this country. I'll be right back. Every once in a while all of us native-born Americans should make it a point to have a conversation with one who is an American by choice. It can do a lot to strengthen our resolve to be free for another 200 years. In a dinner at Mount Vernon back, in revolutionary times, Lafayette turned to his host and said, "General Washington, you Americans, even in war and desperate times, have a superb spirit. You're happy and you're confident. Why is it?" Washington answered, "There's freedom, there is space for a man to be alone and think, and there are friends who owe each other nothing but affection." So simple and answer and so true. Now 200 years later our self-respect as a nation has undergone a strain. At times it is seemed as if the symbol of American power has become our departing ambassador, flag under his arm boarding a rescue helicopter. But there's an awful lot of that other America still around. Like beauty, it may be in the eye of the beholder. A few years back, a woman who had fled from Poland wrote a letter and said, "Among some of our American-born friends it is not fashionable to be enthusiastic about America. There's Vietnam, drugs, urban and racial conflict, poverty, and pollution. Undoubtedly this country faces urgent and serious problems, but we newcomers see not only the problems but also solutions being sought and applied." She goes on to say, "I love America because people accept me for what I am. They don't question my ancestry, my faith, my political beliefs. When I want to move from one place to another I don't have to ask permission. When I need a needle, I go into the nearest store and get one. I don't have to stand in line for hours to buy a piece of tough, fat meat. Even with inflation, I don't have to pay a day's earnings for a small chicken." "I love America because America trusts me. I don't have to show an identity card to buy a pair of shoes. My mail isn't censored and my conversations with friends aren't reported to the secret police." While on July 5th the "London Daily Mail" filled its editorial page with an article by Ferdinand Mount in which he sharply criticized his fellow Britons and other Europeans who delight in lambasting the United States. He said: "What the world needs now is more Americans. The United States is the first nation on earth deliberately dedicated to letting people choose what they want and giving them a chance to get it. For all it's terrible faults, in one sense America still is the last, best hope of mankind because it spells out so vividly the kind of happiness which most people actually want, regardless of what they're told they ought to want." He concluded by saying, "We criticize, copy, patronize, idolize, insult, but we never doubt that the United States has a unique position in the history of human hopes. For it is the only nation founded solely on a moral dream. A part of our own future is tied up in it and the greatest of all the gifts the Americans have given us is hope." Thank You Mr. Mount we needed that. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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