Freedom

[Teresa]

Thanks for responding Indygal... 

[Warph]

Getting back to the subject on Reagan, this is probably something most people don't know about him..... He started out as a Democrat.

Ronald Reagan's early political career:

A registered Democrat and admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Reagan supported the New Deal, as well as the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 as well as Richard Nixon in 1960. His political loyalties soon shifted to the Republican Party, however, for he thought that the Democrats had created a larger government. Following the election of John F. Kennedy, Reagan formally switched parties in 1962, saying "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me." During his work for General Electric, Reagan wrote his own speeches, laboring diligently and daily upon his prose. Although he had speechwriters later in the White House, he continued editing, and even occasionally writing, many of them.

Two years after switching parties, Reagan joined the campaign of conservative presidential contender Barry Goldwater.  Speaking on Goldwater's behalf, Reagan revealed his ideological motivation in a famed speech given on October 27, 1964: "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government set out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing."  The address soon became known as the "Time for Choosing" speech, and is considered the speech that launched Reagan's political career

[Catwoman]

Tomorrow, folks, we will witness a moment in American history which many had thought at least 2-3 generations away from happening...A person of color is ascending to the highest post in American politics.  I have been watching people for the past few weeks and have a few observations:

(1)  People of color, everywhere, seem to be walking a little straighter and smiling a little more.  If it had to take something this earth shaking to finally get that to happen, then I'm glad that Obama has been elected.

(2)  People of color, everywhere, seem to be more willing to engage in conversation with people from walks other than their own.  Again...I'm glad that this is finally happening.

(3)  People of color seem to be divided on what role Mr. Obama is supposed to play...I have heard many say that, as President, he is president of everyone and needs to represent everyone equally.  I have heard an even larger majority say that O, as president, has a moral and spiritual obligation to pay particular attention to the needs/wants/desires of the African-American contingent.  If there had ever been a white person say that the previously white presidents had a moral and spiritual obligation to see to the welfare of the whites, the people of color would have been screaming, howling and nashing their teeth in response to that statement.  I just raised my eyebrows and said nothing.

This election has been the highest expression of freedom possible.  Now...we will see, in the future, if any woman, white, black, red, yellow, or polka-dotted, ever rises to the point of being equal to an African-European president.

Just a few thoughts on the eve of this most momentous occasion.