The Quotable Reagan vs. Hillary Clinton
by Thomas D. Kuiper
WebWire

There‚Äôs no question, Ronald Reagan was a prolific writer and speaker. During the four years between serving as governor of California and becoming president of the United States, Reagan wrote and presented more than a thousand radio addresses. These addresses, cited in the book ‚ÄúReagan In His Own Hand,‚Äù show him laying the ideological foundation of his presidency. When you read these presentations, and many other of his famous quotes throughout his career in public life, you really get a sense of his true beliefs. You also get a sense of what kind of man he was.

So if words give us a sense of ‚Äúthe man,‚Äù then words can also give us a sense of ‚Äúthe woman,‚Äù in this case Hillary Clinton. With many in the Democratic Party urging her to run for president, it‚Äôs fitting to take a look at her speeches and various quotes as a way to uncover her true ideology. And to let her own words predict the type of administration she would lead.

Health Care

‚ÄúThe campaign goes on to bring health care in America out of the free market and into the protective custody of government. Those who brought us the postal service and Amtrak are anxious to provide medical service of the same high caliber.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, as cited in ‚ÄúReagan In His Own Hand‚Äù

‚ÄúWe just can‚Äôt trust the American people to make these types of decisions. ‚Ä¶Government has to make these choices for people.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary Clinton circa 1993, speaking to Rep. Dennis Hastert on the issue of who should control the allocation of money in her health care reform plan

The Face of Evil

‚ÄúLet us be aware that while [the Soviets] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, from his famed ‚ÄúEvil Empire‚Äù speech of 1983.

‚ÄúI believe in evil, and I think that there are evil people in the world.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary Clinton, in 1993, stating her opinion not of the terrorists who had just bombed the World Trade Center, but of those who opposed her health care reform plan

Economic Freedom

‚ÄúMillions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, as cited on RightWingNews.com

‚ÄúThe unfettered free market has been the most radically disruptive force in American life in the last generation.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary Clinton

Freedom of the Press

‚ÄúI‚Äôve always believed a free press is as vital to America as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. A probing, responsible press not only keeps the public informed about what‚Äôs going on in government, it can keep a watchful eye out to uncover corruption, waste, or mismanagement.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, ‚ÄúAn American Life‚Äù

‚ÄúWe‚Äôre all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gate-keeping function.‚Äù ‚ÄîFirst Lady Hillary Clinton, in 1998, days after the Monica Lewinsky story was reported on the Drudge Report

Taxes

‚ÄúWe need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one. ... But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, in his 1981 speech to the National Alliance of Business

‚ÄúWe‚Äôre saying that for American to get back on track, we‚Äôre going to cut [the Bush tax cuts] short and not give it to you. We‚Äôre going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary Clinton, in a 2004 fundraising speech to wealthy liberals in San Francisco

Bipartisanship

‚ÄúOur two-party system has served us well over the years, but never better than in those times of great challenge when we came together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans united in a common cause.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, in his second inaugural address

‚ÄúYou have got to hand it to them, these people are ruthless and they are relentless.‚Äù ‚ÄîSen. Hillary Clinton, just a few months after 9/11, giving her opinion of Republicans

Leadership

‚ÄúA leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, as cited on RightWingNews.com

‚ÄúIt‚Äôs important to have core principles and values, but if you‚Äôre going to be active in policy and politics, you have to be a realist.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary Clinton

Big Government

‚ÄúTrust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, as cited on ‚ÄúThe American Experience: Reagan‚Äù

‚ÄúWe can‚Äôt afford to have that money go to the private sector. The money has to go to the federal government because the federal government will spend that money better than the private sector will spend it.‚Äù ‚ÄîFirst Lady Hillary Clinton, in 1993, regarding health care reform

Religion

‚ÄúWithout God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, speaking at a Dallas Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in 1984

‚ÄúI have to confess that it‚Äôs crossed my mind that you could not be a Republican and a Christian from time to time.‚Äù ‚ÄîFirst Lady Hillary Clinton, ‚Äújoking‚Äù in a speech with religious leaders in 1997

Blaming America

‚ÄúWe are not the cause of all the ills in the world. We‚Äôre a patient and generous people.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 1984

‚ÄúI pledge allegiance to the America that can be.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary Clinton, reluctant to say the Pledge of Allegiance, according to Chris Matthews

Core Beliefs

‚ÄúYou and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, from his famous ‚ÄúA Time for Choosing‚Äù speech in 1964 on behalf of Barry Goldwater

‚ÄúAt least Reagan had some core beliefs. They defied logic, but at least he had them.‚Äù ‚ÄîHillary had some trouble getting her super-size brain around Reagan‚Äôs outlandish beliefs: lower taxes, smaller government; peace through strength and the defeat of communism

Imagination

‚ÄúThe trouble with our liberal friends is not that they‚Äôre ignorant; it‚Äôs just that they know so much that isn‚Äôt so.‚Äù ‚ÄîRonald Reagan, from his ‚ÄúA Time for Choosing‚Äù speech in 1964

‚ÄúThe fact of the matter is, I‚Äôve always been a Yankees fan.‚Äù ‚ÄîSenate candidate Hillary Clinton, soon after launching her campaign in 1999, and ignoring prior public statements about growing up as a Cubs fan in Chicago