Cecilie1200
Diamond Member
I was reading this opinion article:
Ronald Reagan's warning on progressive taxes - Conservative News
And it put me onto this speech by Ronald Reagan, given in 1961 while Reagan was still an actor:
Encroaching Control - Reagan Speeches
It is genuinely fascinating how Mr. Reagan, using only common sense and logic (one presumes, at least, that he was not a prophet in the true sense, and delivering directives straight from the Almighty, although I could be wrong about that), so accurately predicted what came to pass in our country. Leftists today are so busy framing the arguments as though the current state of things has ALWAYS pertained that most people forget that there was once an argument about implementing the programs the left takes for granted now as the basis for the NEW programs they want. And if people don't remember the argument, then they obviously don't remember that the left was WRONG.
That's always the problem with arguing with the left: their attention span is so damned short that by the time they've been proven wrong, they've conveniently forgotten that the debate was even happening.
Not too long ago, Norman Thomas, six times a candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, commented that the American people would never knowingly vote for socialism but that under the name of liberalism, they would adopt every fragment of the socialist program.
Traditionally, one of the easiest first steps in imposing socialism on a people has been government-paid medicine. It is the easiest to present as a humanitarian project. No one wants to oppose care for the sick.
Mind you, this was four years before Medicare was implemented. (Yes, I know, you lefties thought Medicare was established with the signing of the Constitution, but it actually wasn't.)
It is now proposed that all people of Social Security age be given government paid medical and hospital care, said Reagan. Once again, emergency is invoked, and we are given a picture of millions of senior citizens desperately needing medical care and unable to finance it. In all the emotional presentation, the backers of this program seem strangely reluctant to face the facts.
As near as can be determined, he said, less than 10 percent of our senior citizens require aid in meeting their medical needs.
Reagan pointed out that this 10% of senior citizens was being used to force ALL seniors into a compulsory healthcare program, whether they needed - or wanted - it or not.
Why? Well, ex-Congressman (Aime) Forand provides the answer. He says, If we can only break through and get our foot in the door, then we can expand the program after that.
As we know now, that's exactly what happened. Medicare became the law of the land, with leftists pooh-poohing warnings like Reagan's as "hyperbole". And as we also know, Reagan and the other naysayers were correct, and the leftists were WRONG: senior citizens did NOT get to keep their health insurance if they already had it. And now, here we are with Obamacare, and it's the same damned argument all over again, and the left has blissfully forgotten that they already used this arguments before, were WRONG then, and will be wrong this time.
Reagan applied the same prophesying to Social Security (No, leftists, Social Security has NOT been the natural order of things since Cro-Magnon Man), predicting that the program would grow and grow and become so monstrous that eventually, younger Americans would end up being taxed just to cover its deficits, with no hope of EVER seeing any return on that money themselves. Sound familiar to anyone else?
While he was at it, Reagan took a prophetic swipe at the progressive tax, as well, pointing out that there were already handpicked leftist economists attempting to redefine as "loopholes" legitimate deductions such as property taxes and charitable deductions. In 1961, that redefinition was considered preposterous. Now, in 2012, we have a President poised to make it cold, hard reality.
Ronald Reagan's warning on progressive taxes - Conservative News
And it put me onto this speech by Ronald Reagan, given in 1961 while Reagan was still an actor:
Encroaching Control - Reagan Speeches
It is genuinely fascinating how Mr. Reagan, using only common sense and logic (one presumes, at least, that he was not a prophet in the true sense, and delivering directives straight from the Almighty, although I could be wrong about that), so accurately predicted what came to pass in our country. Leftists today are so busy framing the arguments as though the current state of things has ALWAYS pertained that most people forget that there was once an argument about implementing the programs the left takes for granted now as the basis for the NEW programs they want. And if people don't remember the argument, then they obviously don't remember that the left was WRONG.
That's always the problem with arguing with the left: their attention span is so damned short that by the time they've been proven wrong, they've conveniently forgotten that the debate was even happening.
Not too long ago, Norman Thomas, six times a candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, commented that the American people would never knowingly vote for socialism but that under the name of liberalism, they would adopt every fragment of the socialist program.
Traditionally, one of the easiest first steps in imposing socialism on a people has been government-paid medicine. It is the easiest to present as a humanitarian project. No one wants to oppose care for the sick.
Mind you, this was four years before Medicare was implemented. (Yes, I know, you lefties thought Medicare was established with the signing of the Constitution, but it actually wasn't.)
It is now proposed that all people of Social Security age be given government paid medical and hospital care, said Reagan. Once again, emergency is invoked, and we are given a picture of millions of senior citizens desperately needing medical care and unable to finance it. In all the emotional presentation, the backers of this program seem strangely reluctant to face the facts.
As near as can be determined, he said, less than 10 percent of our senior citizens require aid in meeting their medical needs.
Reagan pointed out that this 10% of senior citizens was being used to force ALL seniors into a compulsory healthcare program, whether they needed - or wanted - it or not.
Why? Well, ex-Congressman (Aime) Forand provides the answer. He says, If we can only break through and get our foot in the door, then we can expand the program after that.
As we know now, that's exactly what happened. Medicare became the law of the land, with leftists pooh-poohing warnings like Reagan's as "hyperbole". And as we also know, Reagan and the other naysayers were correct, and the leftists were WRONG: senior citizens did NOT get to keep their health insurance if they already had it. And now, here we are with Obamacare, and it's the same damned argument all over again, and the left has blissfully forgotten that they already used this arguments before, were WRONG then, and will be wrong this time.
Reagan applied the same prophesying to Social Security (No, leftists, Social Security has NOT been the natural order of things since Cro-Magnon Man), predicting that the program would grow and grow and become so monstrous that eventually, younger Americans would end up being taxed just to cover its deficits, with no hope of EVER seeing any return on that money themselves. Sound familiar to anyone else?
While he was at it, Reagan took a prophetic swipe at the progressive tax, as well, pointing out that there were already handpicked leftist economists attempting to redefine as "loopholes" legitimate deductions such as property taxes and charitable deductions. In 1961, that redefinition was considered preposterous. Now, in 2012, we have a President poised to make it cold, hard reality.
