I shall never forget that blissful afternoon in 1985 I shared with The Ronald and Lady Thatcher at her beach front cottage in Brighton; Maggie feeding me shortbread snackies as I roosted atop The Ronald's heroic left shoulder; he regaling us with hilarious anecdotes about Hollywood fops and deadbeats. Not since my many evenings with Sir Winston had I basked in the company of such courageous and compassionate visionaries, nor have I since - though Bushie, Blair, and I have a had a good go of it or two!
Happy Birthday President Reagan. Though it may not be all that terribly apparent at present, your spirit and words live on!
Gems from The Ronald:
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem."
"There is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest."
"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."
"Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong."
"I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."
"The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."
"Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."
"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."
"I've laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting."
"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."
"No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
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