And we are especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich […] There can be no place on earth where it is safe for these monsters to rest,or train or practice their cruel and deadly. We must act together – or unilaterally, if necessary – to ensure that these terrorists have no sanctuary, anywhere.”

My Take – President Reagan said these words in reference to rogue states such as Libya and North Korea, but his words 16 years before September 11 were prophetic, but ignored by succeeding administrations.  Those who want to bring the craziness of the rest of the world to our shores need to know that our reaction will be fast, violent and brutal.  We also need to be proactive to find and eliminate threats before they reach our shore.  That’s why I support a reduction of our foreign involvement, but not a complete dismantlement of our world-wide defense strategy.

Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way.

The ten most dangerous words in the English language are “Hi, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

My Take – Pretty much says it all. Government does not create wealth, and it cannot lift people out of poverty.  Government does best when it stays out of our way. We clean up the messes, build the economy, and care for one another faster, more effectively, and less expensively than when the government gets involved.

How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

My take:  What’s in your pocket, on your hip, in the safe, sitting on your desk, or buried next to the old oak tree in the back yard isn’t the weapon.  It’s you, your skills, and your motivations that matter. You, as a free man or woman, can choose to live free, follow just laws, and stand up against injustice and tyranny.  Or you can choose to be a slave or vassal, be a predator upon the weak and undefended, or turn your head when you see others being abused.  I hope that I have the strength to be the former, and to resist the latter.  Either way, it’s your choice, but the tools you choose are not what makes you dangerous or strong.  They are only what you choose to use.

Recognizing the equality of all men and women, we are willing and able to lift the weak, cradle those who hurt, and nurture the bonds that tie us together as one nation under God.

Abraham Lincoln freed the black man. In many ways, Dr. King freed the white man. How did he accomplish this tremendous feat? Where others — white and black — preached hatred, he taught the principles of love and nonviolence. We can be so thankful that Dr. King raised his mighty eloquence for love and hope rather than for hostility and bitterness. He took the tension he found in our nation, a tension of injustice, and channeled it for the good of America and all her people.

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.

History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

My take:  This is one of the reasons I favor veterans when it comes to voting.  Someone who has never had to do funeral detail has no idea the human cost of going to war, even if it’s justified.  They also sometimes don’t see the military as a group of human beings, but as more of a monolithic “other”.  Not saying that there are no good non-veteran politicians or that all politicians who are veterans are good leaders, but I just have a recognized bias towards someone who has that experience.

Update – OK, that was a mangling.  I’ve corrected my horrendous paragraph a bit.