If you’d like a summary of what’s wrong with the Republican Party today, consider two oft-cited quotes from Ronald Reagan.

The first is: “Freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We … have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to [our children] so that they shall do the same, or we’re going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children … about a time in America … when men and women were free.”

And the second: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'”

The first quote, used by Sarah Palin in the vice presidential debate, was Reagan referring not to the threat of totalitarianism, but to the imminent enactment of Medicare! These quotes should remind us of the hostility toward a social safety net and toward a positive and important role for government that characterized Reagan’s thinking and remains with us today in the beliefs of most Republicans. They see individual initiative and free markets as capable of doing it all. They see government as the problem, not part of the solution. Little wonder that when given a chance to govern they do so badly, appointing incompetents and gutting the agencies they are charged with running (e.g., FEMA, EPA, FTC, SEC, Justice Department).

The big problems facing America today – environment, health care, national security, nuclear proliferation, education – are not problems that the private sector can deal with effectively. Efficient, intelligent government leadership is required.

Shane Hunt

Palermo