Ronald Reagan Quotes
We are a nation that has a government-not the other way around. And that makes us special among the nations of the earth.
Reagan, Ronald. "Inaugural Address." Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1981, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982, p. 2.
This Proclamation was issued upon arrival of the British occupying imperial army in present day Iraq. The English policy makers like the Bush administration almost a century later were expecting a more welcoming reaction. See {585250}.
Jefferson and a number of other Founding Fathers were so against aristocracy and monarchy that the assumed that the only way to prevent it was to have all government officials subjected to annual elections. Jefferson was not at the constitutional convention, while annual elections were considered, the compromise that became the Constitution required 2 year elections for the House and 6 years for the Senate with 4 years for the Presidency.
While this has been one of the great American principles of political philosophy, in reality we have on many occasions interfered when a people chose an enemy of the United States or made a choice of a government which would seize power and not allow any further free choices. However, from the time JFK made this statement to today, our foreign policy record has become much better on implementing this principle.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.
