Reagan's speech in 1986 that was broadcast to high school's in America.
Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Students of John A. Holmes High School of Edenton, North Carolina
Quote:
Only 5 years ago our economy suffered from high inflation, high interest rates, mushrooming government spending, and steadily increasing unemployment. A lot of people couldn't find jobs, and people on fixed incomes were finding it harder to buy the basics, such as food and shelter. Well, we got inflation down, interest rates down, and our economy created over 1\1/2\ million new jobs just last year alone. The poor are now increasingly able to dig themselves out of poverty, and that's been good economic news.
The good news in defense is that our Armed Forces, which were suffering from neglect and low funding, have now made a comeback. Morale is up in the services, and the quality of our men and women in uniform has never been better -- and I mean never. As a matter of fact, we have the highest percentage of high school graduates in uniform today than we've ever had in the history of our nation, even back when we had the compulsory draft. In addition, our nation has encouraged a more realistic sense of defense needs.
In foreign affairs we've kept our friends close and the lines of communication with our adversaries open. We've tried to give the world the sense that the United States has a coherent and logical foreign policy that reflects our respect for freedom and our opposition to tyranny.
The point is that all we've done has had, and will continue to have, a direct impact on your lives. And the fact is, it's your future, not ours. And all that we've done, we've done with an eye toward how it would impact you. We want to make your future better, because tomorrow belongs to you. And since you're the leaders of tomorrow, I wanted to talk to all of you as a friend about the things you'll have to do to ensure a prosperous nation and a peaceful world. And I'm sure that peace and prosperity must be at the top of your agenda for the future.
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What's wrong with that? Any of out Republicans have a problem with the Gipper's speech being broadcast to high school kids? Is that a form of indoctrination?
I'm sure that Dr. Who will equate Reagan with trying to be like Goebbels or Hitler, right? That's he was trying to be "Dear Leader"? Right?
Of course not. But when it's Obama, all of a sudden it's about making it an "OBama fan club" and indoctrinating our youth in liberal politics.
Ridiculous. It's a speech from the President with an accompanying lesson plan. A letter from a 4th grade kid asking what you could do to "help President Obama" is somehow trying to indocrinate kids? Please. How many of you know 4th graders? Their politics - if they have any - will be exactly what their parent's politics are.
It's a school assignment, I'll bet you half the teachers in certain parts of the country would laud kids for telling Obama to go **** himself. And all the good teachers - and probably most of them - would use it as a teaching moment to ask the kids questions, not to pass on a political philosophy.
All of this furor is a ridiculous overreaction by conservatives whose goal is to do nothing more than get Obama defeated in 2012. It has nothing to do with children. For those people who think this somehow damages their children, or that their children shouldn't hear the President of the United States speak to them, or engage in an activity whereby they write letters or have a discussion about what the President has asked them to do, you have a pretty low opinion of your own parenting skills.
This whole thing really bugs me. The silliness of some of the Obama hatred is getting to me today.