77-22-B6
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Freedom[edit]
Transcript[edit]The other day, I told a group of students that my wish for them was that they could know in this land the freedom I'd known when I was their age. I'll be right back. Sometimes I wonder if we haven't talked freedom and free enterprise so much that people, particularly young people, may just tune out. Speaking to some students the other day I referred to freedoms lost in this land during my lifetime and I got a question, "What freedoms? What was I talking about?" It reminded me of a TV play I'd once done in which I played a Soviet major during the occupation of Budapest. In the play, I turned out to be something of a nice fellow and let two Hungarians go with this line, "I never knew what freedom was, until I saw you lose yours." But facing these students I had to search for an answer. This is what I came up with. When I was their age, there was no such thing as a driver's license. Your father began teaching you to drive the family car when he thought you were old enough and after you've driven him crazy asking why weren't you old enough. You passed your driver's test when he said, "yes you can take the car on your date tonight." Believe me, he didn't say that until he was as sure as he could be that you knew how to drive. Now maybe you'll say that's not a good example, the driver's licenses are a necessity, but are there any fewer accidents today than there were then? Is there a better test of your ability than a parent turning you loose at the wheel of several thousand dollars of investment of hard-earned money? What about twelve-year-old farm kids driving tractors on their father's farm and plowing a field yet? Well this led to other examples. When I was fourteen I got a summer job with an outfit that was rebuilding and selling old homes. Before the summer was over, I had laid hardwood floors, shingled roofs, painted, and worked on foundations. At summer's end, I had my first year's tuition for college in the bank. Can that be done today? No. You have to get a government license to do just about every kind of work I did, and just as it does with driving, the government, not the fellow who hired you, would decide whether you were capable. In a recent debate with Ralph Nader, a distinguished scholar threw an obvious example of lack of freedom at Nader and did so deliberately, sure of the answer he would get. "What right," he challenged, "does government have to say you can't ride a motorcycle without a helmet? You aren't endangering anyone but yourself." Back came a typical Naderism. "If a helmetless rider splashes himself on the pavement, a government subsidized ambulance will pick him up, take him to a government subsidized hospital. If he dies, he'll be buried in a government subsidized cemetery and government welfare will begin paying for the support of his widow and orphaned children." Therefore government can't let him fall down and go boom. In other words, we're all now stamped, Property of the United States government. Do not fold, spindle or mutilate. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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