Nomination Acceptance Speech (July 17, 1980)

Though spoken thirty-one years ago, many of Reagan’s words are just as powerful…just as impolitic…and just as true today.  Here are a few of my favorite lines:

Never before in our history have Americans been called upon to face three grave threats to our very existence, any one of which could destroy us.  We face a disintegrating economy, a weakened defense and an energy policy based on the sharing of scarcity.

The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves.  Those who believe we can, have no business leading the nation.  I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose.

Ours are not problems of abstract economic theory.  Those are problems of flesh and blood; problems that cause pain and destroy the moral fiber of real people who should not suffer the further indignity of being told by the government that it is all somehow their fault. 

High taxes, we are told, are somehow good for us, as if, when government spends our money it isn’t inflationary, but when we spend it, it is. 

Those who preside over the worst energy shortage in our history tell us to use less, so that we will run out of oil, gasoline, and natural gas a little more slowly.

There may be a sailor at the helm of the ship of state, but the ship has no rudder.  Critical decisions are made at times almost in comic fashion, but who can laugh?...Who does not feel a growing sense of unease as our allies, facing repeated instances of an amateurish and confused administration, reluctantly conclude that America is unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations as the leader of the free world?  Who does not feel rising alarm when the question in any discussion of foreign policy is no longer, “Should we do something?” but “Do we have the capacity to do anything?”

We must have the clarity of vision to see the difference between what is essential and what is merely desirable, and then the courage to bring our government back under control and make it acceptable to the people.