Sixty Years Later, Reagan’s ‘A Time For Choosing’ Speech Casts Enduring Vision Of Conservatism And Freedom

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Three score years ago this Sunday, one of the seminal moments in modern American politics occurred in the service of a presidential campaign that would suffer a resounding defeat. Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” broadcast endorsing Barry Goldwater’s unsuccessful candidacy did far more than herald Reagan’s arrival on the national stage. Somewhat paradoxically given its title, Reagan’s speech holds a principled timelessness that makes it as relevant today as it was six decades ago.

Clear, Relevant Words

For all the derision so-called elites directed toward a star of movies like “Bedtime for Bonzo,” Ronald Reagan could craft and communicate words with lasting effect. Crisp, clear phrases in his speech — “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny” — echo through the years in a way that few current politicians can match. No inane pablum about being “unburdened by what has been” in this address.

Reagan’s description of the issues facing Americans in 1964 continues to instruct in the present. At a time of trillion-dollar deficits, the federal government spending far more than it takes in still gives the “uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn’t something on which we can base our hopes for the future.” Reagan’s discussion of the hollowness of the Social Security Trust Fund, and the pernicious effects of inflation, resonates with seniors worried about the future of entitlements and families struggling to make ends meet. And stories of government inefficiency — “we bought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives for Kenya[n] government officials” — echo the waste and fraud Americans observed during Democrats’ pandemic spending spree.

Policies Grounded in First Principles

But “A Time for Choosing” gives witness most powerfully by outlining the principles conservatives value and that all Americans should cherish. Most politicians try to remain in power by salami-slicing the electorate through grubby vote-buying exercises — a new tax break here, an expansion of a program there. But in quoting Churchill that “the destiny of man is not measured by material computations,” Reagan provides a better example, speaking to Americans on a higher plane.

“A Time for Choosing” lays out a principled vision — one of a free, sovereign nation where the people run the government, rather than the other way around — that Reagan identifies as simple, but not easy. In his eyes, and in the minds of many conservatives, that vision faces two key challenges. From within, a “little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital” fails to appreciate that “a government can’t control the economy without controlling people.” From without, leftists’ solution of “peace without victory” jeopardizes the nation’s security in the face of totalitarian aggression, because “there’s only one guaranteed way you can have peace — and you can have it in the next second — surrender.”

Those principles faced constant challenge in Reagan’s lifetime, as it does in our own. In highlighting comments by Senator J. William Fulbright, D-Ark., complaining about the “restrictions of power imposed” on the president by an “antiquated” Constitution, Reagan could just have easily referred to Franklin Roosevelt’s not-too-subtle references to martial law in his first inaugural address, or court-packing and myriad other power grabs proposed by the 21^st-century left. And his reference to “a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain” applies equally today to those brutalized by an oppressive Chinese Communist regime.

Lessons in Leadership

Reagan was not religiously observant, but he deeply believed the American people would respond to reason and choose the better course. In 1964, he said that Goldwater “has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny” because he held the same faith himself. He would hold that faith to the end, writing as he retired from public life that “when the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.”

“A Time for Choosing” provides lessons in leadership inside and outside the Beltway. For conservatives across the land, a vision of freedom that stands the test of time. For elected officials, an example to emulate — set policies based on first principles, explain them in clear prose, and believe in the goodness of the American people to answer the call. A timeless legacy, encapsulated in a 27-minute speech.