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

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