A Time for Choosing

Now that the election is over, and Barack Obama has won a historic presidential victory, I want to remind Oregon Catalyst readers and Cascade Policy Institute supporters that the time for thoughtful policy discussion hasn’t ended, it’s just moving into a new phase.

Obama gave some eloquent speeches during this campaign, yet by my reckoning he didn’t set the standard for modern-day political eloquence — or relevance. That mark was set 44 years ago when Ronald Reagan spoke for 27 minutes on behalf of ill-fated presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.

However you view yesterday’s election results, from the presidency on down, remember that we’ve been this way before. And, we’re still here.

So take a step back from the current political scene, and watch Ronald Reagan give what has become known simply as The Speech:

Ronald Reagan
A Time for Choosing (aka “The Speech”)
Air date 27 October 1964, Los Angeles, CA
including video, mp3 audio and written transcript

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Steve Buckstein is founder and senior policy analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market research center.