• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
Goldwater SpeechGiven as a stump speech, at speaking engagements, and on television in 1964 in support ofBarry Goldwater's presidential campaign. This version is from that broadcast.I am going to talk of controversial things. I make no apology for this.It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the FoundingFathers. James Madison said, "We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for selfgovernment."This idea? that government was beholden to the people, that it had noother source of power isstill the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issueof this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandonthe American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can planour lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing asa left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream-the maximum of individualfreedom consistent with order or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of theirsincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security haveembarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, "The real destroyer of the liberties of thepeople is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people.And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieveits purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, "What greater service we could render ifonly we had a little more money and a little more power." But the truth is that outside of itslegitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector.Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as beingopposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutionswith the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we'realways "against," never "for" anything.We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, andto that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem. However,we are against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscalshortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to endpayments....We are for aiding our allies by sharing our material blessings with nations which share ourfundamental beliefs, but we are against doling out money government to government, creatingbureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world.We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward I restoring for our children theAmerican Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as highas his strength and ability will take him.... But we can not have such reform while our tax policy isengineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our socialstructure....Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of theprogressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation? . . . Today in ourcountry the tax collector's share is 37 cents of -very dollar earned. Freedom has never been so
 
fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp.Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveyingthat information to family and friends? Will you resist the temptation to get a government handoutfor your community? Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. Wecan't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion ofpublic power is eventually an assault upon your own business. If some among you fear taking astand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognizethat you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last.If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what's at stake. We are faced with the mostevil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be nosecurity anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the UnitedStates. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state arearchitects of a policy of accommodation.They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are noeasy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know ismorally right. Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by materialcomputation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits-notanimals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time andspace, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last besthope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years ofdarkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified ourbrief moment here. We did all that could be done.Speech to AmericaMarch 31, 1976Good evening to all of you from California. Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about issues. Issueswhich I think are involved-or should be involved in this primary election season. I'm a candidatefor the Republican nomination for president. But I hope that you who are Independents andDemocrats will let me talk to you also tonight because the problems facing our country areproblems that just don't bear any party label.In this election season the White House is telling us a solid economic recovery is taking place. Itclaims a slight drop in unemployment. It says that prices aren't going up as fast, but they are stillgoing up, and that the stock market has shown some gains. But, in fact, things seem just aboutas they were back in the 1972 election year. Remember, we were also coming out of a recessionthen. Inflation had been running at round 6 percent. Unemployment about 7 [percent].Remember, too, the upsurge and the optimism lasted through the election year and into 1973.And then the roof fell in. Once again we had unemployment. Only this time not 7 percent, morethan 10. And inflation wasn't 6 percent, it was 12 percent. Now, in this election year 1976, we'retold we're coming out of this recession just because inflation and unemployment rates havefallen, to what they were at the worst of the previous recession. If history repeats itself, will we betalking recovery four years from now merely because we've reduced inflation from 25 percent to12 percent?The fact is, we'll never build a lasting economic recovery by going deeper into debt at a fasterrate than we ever have before. It took this nation 166 years until the middle of World War II tofinally accumulate a debt of $95 billion. It took this administration just the last 12 months to add$95 billion to the debt. And this administration has run up almost one-fourth of the total nationaldebt in just these short 19 months.
 
Inflation is the cause of recession and unemployment. And we're not going to have real prosperityor recovery until we stop fighting the symptoms and start fighting the disease. There's only onecause for inflation government spending more than government takes in. The cure is a balancedbudget. Ah, but they tell us, 80 percent of the budget is uncontrollable. It's fixed by laws passedby Congress. Well, laws passed by Congress can be repealed by Congress. And, if Congress isunwilling to do this, then isn't it time we elect a Congress that will?Soon after he took office, Mr. Ford promised he would end inflation. Indeed, he declared war oninflation. And, we all donned those WIN buttons to "Whip Inflation Now." Unfortunately the war if itever really started was soon over. Mr. Ford without WIN button, appeared on TV, and promisedhe absolutely would not allow the Federal deficit to exceed $60 billion (which incidentally was $5billion more than the biggest previous deficit we'd ever had). Later he told us it might be as muchas $70 billion. Now we learn it's 80 billion or more.Then came a White House proposal for a $28 billion tax cut, to be matched by a S28 billion cut inthe proposed spending not in present spending, but in the proposed spending in the new budget.Well, my question then and my question now is, if there was $28 billion in the new budget thatcould be cut, what was it doing there in the first place?Unfortunately, Washington doesn't feel the same pain from inflation that you and I do. As a matterof fact, government makes a profit on inflation. For instance, last July Congress vaccinated itselfagainst that pain. It very quietly passed legislation (which the president signed into law) whichautomatically now gives a pay increase to every Congressman every time the cost of living goesup.It would have been nice if they'd thought of some arrangement like that for the rest of us. Theycould, for example, correct a great unfairness that now exists in our tax system. Today, when youget a cost of living pay raise one that just keeps you even with purchasing power it often movesyou up into a higher tax bracket. This means you pay a higher percentage in tax, but you reduceyour purchasing power. Last year, because of this inequity, the government took in $7 billion inundeserved profit in the income tax alone, and this year they'll do even better.Now isn't it time that Congress looked after your welfare as well as its own? Those whosespending policies cause inflation to begin with should be made to feel the painful effect just asyou and I do.Repeal of Congress' automatic pay raise might leave it with more incentive to do something tocurb inflation. Now, let's 100k at Social Security. Mr. Ford says he wants to "preserve the integrityof Social Security." Well, I differ with him on one word. I would like to restore the integrity ofSocial Security. Those who depend on it see a continual reduction in their standard of living.Inflation strips the increase in their benefits. The maximum benefit today buys 80 fewer loaves ofbread than it did when that maximum payment was only $85 a month. In the meantime, the SocialSecurity payroll tax has become the most unfair tax any worker pays. Women are discriminatedagainst particularly working wives. And, people who reach Social Security age and want tocontinue working, should be allowed to do so without losing their benefits. I believe a presidentialcommission of experts should be appointed to study and present a plan to strengthen andimprove Social Security while there's still time so that no person who has contributed to SocialSecurity will ever lose a dime.Before leaving this subject of our economic problems, let's talk about unemployment. Endinginflation is the only long range and lasting answer to the problem of unemployment. TheWashington Establishment is not the answer. It's the problem. Its tax policies, its harassingregulation, its confiscation of investment capital to pay for its deficits keeps business and industryfrom expanding to meet your needs and to provide the jobs we all need.No one who lived through the Great Depression can ever 100k upon an market for that job skill.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...