Ronald Reagan 1964

Watch this speech.

I only recently read Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative and like that book, this speech explains clearly why conservatism is what it is: fair, democratic, compassionate and uplifting of humanity in ways that modern liberalism will never be. Ever. My favorite part is the simple declaration that human history has mostly been people living under dictatorial systems, and we must not fall back into that! This great American Experiment is the anomaly, not the norm, and as in the classic Benjamin Franklin anecdote, (As Franklin emerged from Independence Hall the final day of the convention, he was asked by a woman, “Mr. Franklin what have you given us?” He responded, “A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”) we must work to keep it. Conservativism does.