In a recently resurfaced video, legendary late-night host Johnny Carson sat down with then-president Ronald Reagan to discuss the pitfalls of relying on government as the solution to all life’s problems. In the cordial and polite discussion, Reagan showed off a masterclass of conservative rhetoric.
For context, Ronald Reagan was a conservative icon for the way he championed limited government, free markets, and American exceptionalism. His record-breaking tax cuts saved the nation from a democrat recession and helped end the Cold War. His leadership, like Trump’s, restored national pride and inspired conservatives to fight for their values.
In any case, the historical clip began with John Carson asking the then-president an intelligent question. Carson asked, “Conservatives and liberals, and they all seem to have different answers as to what is going wrong in the country.”
Continuing his opening remarks, the legendary commentator added, “Some people say, well, let’s let the government spend billions of dollars. And then other people say, no, no more federal spending. Let’s give the tax rebates. And the other intelligent people say, no tax rebates. We’ve got to do this and do that. So everybody is confused. How do you see the thing? What are we going to get out of this?”
Confidently answering with a well-reasoned response, the Republican president explained his position thoroughly. Reagan declared, “Well, Johnny, I think that one of the things is that people keep looking to government for the answer, and government’s the problem.”
Building out his argument, he stated, “You, moments ago, ..asked, you know about people and feeling not only confused, but low and down in America, first of all, the American people, if they would just take a little inventory and look around you, triple our troubles, and we’re better off than any other people on Earth.”
Concluding with a stunningly simple and effective point, the Republican said, “And we’ve asked so much of government, and we’ve gotten in the habit over the last 40 years of thinking that government has the answers. There’s very little that government can do as efficiently and as economically as the people can do themselves, and if government would shut the doors and sneak away for about three weeks, we’d never miss them.”
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Unsurprisingly, Ronald Reagan made several highly memorable and iconic speeches. As we reported, while campaigning for Barry Goldwater in 1963, the actor delivered his famous “time for choosing” speech, in which he called on Westerners to wake up and resist the advancing tide of leftism.
Watch the clip here:
Speaking about the cold war, which he would eventually help end, Reagan said, “We’re at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it’s been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening,” adding, “Well I think it’s time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.”
Featured image from embedded video