Left versus Right

“You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down: [up] man’s old — old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”

Ronald Reagan

A Time for Choosing

1964

No one should find fault with the sentiments of Ronald Reagan as he expressed them back then. You might find fault with Mr. Reagan but not with what he said.

If you are a political partisan, you may have made the mistake of buying into one or the other of the two nightmare scenarios that the two dominant political parties have created to scare us into one camp or the other. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are the monolithic forces they pretend to be. Neither are they the monolithic forces of evil the other party portrays them to be.

There is a ton of divisive smoke and mirrors in the current American political climate, and you know what is certain to happen if we remain divided.

President Reagan said, “…there is no such thing as left or right.” The implication is that we are focusing our attentions in the wrong direction. We should be focusing on making our country as strong as it can be for now and for the future. America has always been great, and we need to stay that way.

President Reagan said, “There’s only and up or down: [up] man’s old—old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order. Or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.” No truer words have ever been spoken. Ultimately our goal is to increase individual freedom within the bounds of morality and the law.

Ultimately our second goal is to avoid totalitarianism at all costs. We cannot let our power be concentrated in the hands of the few. It does not matter to us if the powerful few are on the left or the right side of the spectrum.

We the people must make the laws and obey them. The tin gods in Washington must answer to us. Government should be of laws rather than of men.