Patriot In The Dark

Government Power over the People — A Time for Choosing – #RonaldReagan 1964 PITD "A Time for Choosing," delivered on national television on October 27, 1964 Excerpt This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for #SelfGovernment or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down - [up] man's old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course. In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the "Great Society," or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people. But they've been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves; and all of the things I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations. For example, they have voices that say, "The cold war will end through our acceptance of a not undemocratic socialism." Another voice says, "The profit motive has become outmoded. It must be replaced by the incentives of the welfare state." Or, "Our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th century." Senator Fullbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is outmoded. He referred to the President as "our moral teacher and our leader," and he says he is "hobbled in his task by the restrictions of power imposed on him by this antiquated document." He must "be freed," so that he "can do for us" what he knows "is best." And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as "meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government." Well, I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me, the free men and women of this country, as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government"this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

You’re on the wrong side… ⚖️😂 Ronald Reagan 1965 * #PITD #Shorts The Myth of the Great Society 1965 Excerpt And I speak not in a partisan sense of an administration or individuals. I'm talking of the institution of government. Wasn't this the admonition of the founding fathers? That government tends to grow, to take on power until freedom eventually is lost. The fact is and we can't escape it, only government is capable of tyranny. Now, I realize this is a controversial subject, particularly as we approach an election year, but then if you didn't take up things that were controversial you'd never talk at all. There was a man knocked on a door one day and a small boy answered and the man said "Son is your father home?" and the boy said "No." he said "Is your mother home?" and the boy said "No." and finally he said, "Well son, I'm your uncle on your father's side." and the kid said, "Well I guess you can come in but I'll tell you right now you're on the wrong side." In 1772 the Boston Committee of Correspondence proclaimed the right to life, liberty, and property. Two years later, in Philadelphia, the First Continental Congress declared that Americans were entitled to life, liberty, and property. In June of 1776, the Virginia Bill of Rights asserted that all men were equally free and independent with a means of possessing and the right to possess and acquire property. And three weeks later came the Declaration of Independence, a bloody war, victory, and then a new nation which would be based on a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. "Life, liberty, and property" had become "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And seventy years would go by before England's Lord Acton would comment on the task of these men and what they had accomplished with this document. He would say they had solved two problems which had heretofore baffled the most enlightened nations. They had prodigiously increased the power of the national government and had founded it on the principle of equality without surrendering the security for freedom and property. And it's true our Constitution is a contract guaranteeing the most limited and equitable government in the long history of man's relation to man. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Last Best Hope for Man — State of the Union — #RonaldReagan 1982 * PITD FIRST STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS - JANUARY 26, 1982 EXCERPT And then there are countless, quiet, everyday heroes of American life--parents who sacrifice long and hard so their children will know a better life than they've known; church and civic volunteers who help to feed, clothe, nurse, and teach the needy; millions who've made our nation and our nation's destiny so very specialunsung heroes who may not have realized their own dreams themselves but then who reinvest those dreams in their children. Don't let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind her, that the American spirit has been vanquished. We've seen it triumph too often in our lives to stop believing in it now. A hundred and twenty years ago, the greatest of all our Presidents delivered his second State of the Union message in this Chamber. "We cannot escape history," Abraham Lincoln warned. "We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves." The "trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest [last] generation." Well, that President and that Congress did not fail the American people. Together they weathered the storm and preserved the Union. Let it be said of us that we, too, did not fail; that we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this Chamber as we are meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty—this last, best hope of man on Earth. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Ronald Reagan – A Time for Choosing 1964 * PITD Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we'll only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he'll forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer - not an easy answer but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right. We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we're willing to make a deal with your slave masters." Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one." Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one guaranteed way you can have peace - and you can have it in the next second - surrender. Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face, that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand, the ultimatum. And what then, when Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we're retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary, because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. *** You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you’ve seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Do you even No? 🌍💀 Ronald Reagan 1982 * #PITD #Shorts#Shorts FIRST STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS - JANUARY 26, 1982 EXCERPT Toward those who would export terrorism and subversion in the Caribbean and elsewhere, especially Cuba and Libya, we will act with firmness. Our foreign policy is a policy of strength, fairness, and balance. By restoring America's military credibility, by pursuing peace at the negotiating table wherever both sides are willing to sit down in good faith, and by regaining the respect of America's allies and adversaries alike, we have strengthened our country's position as a force for peace and progress in the world. When action is called for, we're taking it. Our sanctions against the military dictatorship that has attempted to crush human rights in Poland—and against the Soviet regime behind that military dictatorship-clearly demonstrated to the world that America will not conduct "business as usual" with the forces of oppression. Now, let me also note that private American groups have taken the lead in making January 30th a day of solidarity with the people of Poland. So, too, the European Parliament has called for March 21st to be an international day of support for Afghanistan. Well, I urge all peace-loving peoples to join together on those days, to raise their voices, to speak and pray for freedom. Meanwhile, we're working for reduction of arms and military activities, as I announced in my address to the Nation last November 18th. We have proposed to the Soviet Union a far-reaching agenda for mutual reduction of military forces and have already initiated negotiations with them in Geneva on intermediaterange nuclear forces. In those talks it is essential that we negotiate from a position of strength. There must be a real incentive for the Soviets to take these talks seriously. This requires that we rebuild our defenses. In the last decade, while we sought the moderation of Soviet power through a process of restraint and accommodation, the Soviets engaged in an unrelenting buildup of their military forces. The protection of our national security has required that we undertake a substantial program to enhance our military forces. We have not neglected to strengthen our traditional alliances in Europe and Asia, or to develop key relationships with our partners in the Middle East and other countries. Building a more peaceful world requires a sound strategy and the national resolve to back it up. That's why we've laid such stress not only on our own defense but on our vital foreign assistance program. Your recent passage of the Foreign Assistance Act sent a signal to the world that America will not shrink from making the investments necessary for both peace and security. Our foreign policy must be rooted in realism, not naivete or self-delusion. A recognition of what the Soviet empire is about is the starting point. Winston Churchill, in negotiating with the Soviets, observed that they respect only strength and resolve in their dealings with other nations. That's why we've moved to reconstruct our national defenses. We intend to keep the peace. We will also keep our freedom. We have made pledges of a new frankness in our public statements and worldwide broadcasts. In the face of a climate of falsehood and misinformation, we've promised the world a season of truth—the truth of our great civilized ideas: individual liberty, representative government, the rule of law under God. We've never needed walls or minefields or barbed wire to keep our people in. Nor do we declare martial law to keep our people from voting for the kind of government they want. Yes, we have our problems; yes, we're in a time of recession. And it's true, there's no quick fix, as I said, to instantly end the tragic pain of unemployment. But we will end it. The process has already begun, and we'll see its effect as the year goes on. We speak with pride and admiration of that little band of Americans who overcame insuperable odds to set this nation on course 200 years ago. But our glory didn't end with them. https://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan-institute/scholarly-initiatives/essay-series-on-presidential-principles-and-beliefs/ronald-reagans-first-state-of-the-union-address-january-26-1982/ If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Last Best Hope for Man — State of the Union — #RonaldReagan 1982 * PITD FIRST STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS - JANUARY 26, 1982 EXCERPT And then there are countless, quiet, everyday heroes of American life--parents who sacrifice long and hard so their children will know a better life than they've known; church and civic volunteers who help to feed, clothe, nurse, and teach the needy; millions who've made our nation and our nation's destiny so very specialunsung heroes who may not have realized their own dreams themselves but then who reinvest those dreams in their children. Don't let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind her, that the American spirit has been vanquished. We've seen it triumph too often in our lives to stop believing in it now. A hundred and twenty years ago, the greatest of all our Presidents delivered his second State of the Union message in this Chamber. "We cannot escape history," Abraham Lincoln warned. "We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves." The "trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest [last] generation." Well, that President and that Congress did not fail the American people. Together they weathered the storm and preserved the Union. Let it be said of us that we, too, did not fail; that we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this Chamber as we are meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty—this last, best hope of man on Earth. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Peace, National Security & the Defense Budget — ☢️ Truth Part 4 /4 — #RonaldReagan 1983 * PITD Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security March 23, 1983 #SDI At the beginning of this year, I submitted to the Congress a Defense Budget which reflects my best judgment of the best understanding of the experts and specialists who advise me about what we and our allies must do to protect our people in the years ahead. That budget is much more than a long list of numbers, for behind all the numbers lies America's ability to prevent the greatest of human tragedies and preserve our free way of life in a sometimes dangerous world. It is part of a careful, long-term plan to make America strong again after too many years of neglect and mistakes. Our efforts to rebuild America's defenses and strengthen the peace began 2 years ago when we requested a major increase in the defense program. Since then, the amount of those increases we first proposed has been reduced by half, through improvements in management and procurement and other savings. The budget request that is now before the Congress has been trimmed to the limits of safety. Further deep cuts cannot be made without seriously endangering the security of the Nation. The choice is up to the men and women you've elected to the Congress, and that means the choice is up to you. Tonight, I want to explain to you what this defense debate is all about and why I'm convinced that the budget now before the Congress is necessary, responsible, and deserving of your support. And I want to offer hope for the future. But first, let me say what the defense debate is not about. It is not about spending arithmetic. I know that in the last few weeks you've been bombarded with numbers and percentages. Some say we need only a 5-percent increase in defense spending. The so-called alternate budget backed by liberals in the House of Representatives would lower the figure to 2 to 3 percent, cutting our defense spending by $163 billion over the next 5 years. The trouble with all these numbers is that they tell us little about the kind of defense program America needs or the benefits and security and freedom that our defense effort buys for us. What seems to have been lost in all this debate is the simple truth of how a defense budget is arrived at. It isn't done by deciding to spend a certain number of dollars. Those loud voices that are occasionally heard charging that the Government is trying to solve a security problem by throwing money at it are nothing more than noise based on ignorance. We start by considering what must be done to maintain peace and review all the possible threats against our security. Then a strategy for strengthening peace and defending against those threats must be agreed upon. And, finally, our defense establishment must be evaluated to see what is necessary to protect against any or all of the potential threats. The cost of achieving these ends is totaled up, and the result is the budget for national defense. There is no logical way that you can say, let's spend x billion dollars less. You can only say, which part of our defense measures do we believe we can do without and still have security against all contingencies? Anyone in the Congress who advocates a percentage or a specific dollar cut in defense spending should be made to say what part of our defenses he would eliminate, and he should be candid enough to acknowledge that his cuts mean cutting our commitments to allies or inviting greater risk or both. The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend against aggression -- to preserve freedom and peace. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Peace, National Security and Defense Budget — Truth Part 2 — #RonaldReagan 1983 * PITD Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security March 23, 1983 At the beginning of this year, I submitted to the Congress a #DefenseBudget which reflects my best judgment of the best understanding of the experts and specialists who advise me about what we and our allies must do to protect our people in the years ahead. That budget is much more than a long list of numbers, for behind all the numbers lies America's ability to prevent the greatest of human tragedies and preserve our free way of life in a sometimes dangerous world. It is part of a careful, long-term plan to make America strong again after too many years of neglect and mistakes. Our efforts to rebuild America's defenses and strengthen the peace began 2 years ago when we requested a major increase in the defense program. Since then, the amount of those increases we first proposed has been reduced by half, through improvements in management and procurement and other savings. The budget request that is now before the Congress has been trimmed to the limits of safety. Further deep cuts cannot be made without seriously endangering the security of the Nation. The choice is up to the men and women you've elected to the Congress, and that means the choice is up to you. Tonight, I want to explain to you what this defense debate is all about and why I'm convinced that the budget now before the Congress is necessary, responsible, and deserving of your support. And I want to offer hope for the future. But first, let me say what the defense debate is not about. It is not about spending arithmetic. I know that in the last few weeks you've been bombarded with numbers and percentages. Some say we need only a 5-percent increase in defense spending. The so-called alternate budget backed by liberals in the House of Representatives would lower the figure to 2 to 3 percent, cutting our defense spending by $163 billion over the next 5 years. The trouble with all these numbers is that they tell us little about the kind of defense program America needs or the benefits and security and freedom that our defense effort buys for us. What seems to have been lost in all this debate is the simple truth of how a defense budget is arrived at. It isn't done by deciding to spend a certain number of dollars. Those loud voices that are occasionally heard charging that the Government is trying to solve a security problem by throwing money at it are nothing more than noise based on ignorance. We start by considering what must be done to maintain peace and review all the possible threats against our security. Then a strategy for strengthening peace and defending against those threats must be agreed upon. And, finally, our defense establishment must be evaluated to see what is necessary to protect against any or all of the potential threats. The cost of achieving these ends is totaled up, and the result is the budget for national defense. There is no logical way that you can say, let's spend x billion dollars less. You can only say, which part of our defense measures do we believe we can do without and still have security against all contingencies? Anyone in the Congress who advocates a percentage or a specific dollar cut in defense spending should be made to say what part of our defenses he would eliminate, and he should be candid enough to acknowledge that his cuts mean cutting our commitments to allies or inviting greater risk or both. The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend against aggression -- to preserve freedom and peace. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Peace, National Security and Defense Budget — Truth Part 1 — #RonaldReagan 1983 * PITD Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security March 23, 1983 At the beginning of this year, I submitted to the Congress a #DefenseBudget which reflects my best judgment of the best understanding of the experts and specialists who advise me about what we and our allies must do to protect our people in the years ahead. That budget is much more than a long list of numbers, for behind all the numbers lies America's ability to prevent the greatest of human tragedies and preserve our free way of life in a sometimes dangerous world. It is part of a careful, long-term plan to make America strong again after too many years of neglect and mistakes. Our efforts to rebuild America's defenses and strengthen the peace began 2 years ago when we requested a major increase in the defense program. Since then, the amount of those increases we first proposed has been reduced by half, through improvements in management and procurement and other savings. The budget request that is now before the Congress has been trimmed to the limits of safety. Further deep cuts cannot be made without seriously endangering the security of the Nation. The choice is up to the men and women you've elected to the Congress, and that means the choice is up to you. Tonight, I want to explain to you what this defense debate is all about and why I'm convinced that the budget now before the Congress is necessary, responsible, and deserving of your support. And I want to offer hope for the future. But first, let me say what the defense debate is not about. It is not about spending arithmetic. I know that in the last few weeks you've been bombarded with numbers and percentages. Some say we need only a 5-percent increase in defense spending. The so-called alternate budget backed by liberals in the House of Representatives would lower the figure to 2 to 3 percent, cutting our defense spending by $163 billion over the next 5 years. The trouble with all these numbers is that they tell us little about the kind of defense program America needs or the benefits and security and freedom that our defense effort buys for us. What seems to have been lost in all this debate is the simple truth of how a defense budget is arrived at. It isn't done by deciding to spend a certain number of dollars. Those loud voices that are occasionally heard charging that the Government is trying to solve a security problem by throwing money at it are nothing more than noise based on ignorance. We start by considering what must be done to maintain peace and review all the possible threats against our security. Then a strategy for strengthening peace and defending against those threats must be agreed upon. And, finally, our defense establishment must be evaluated to see what is necessary to protect against any or all of the potential threats. The cost of achieving these ends is totaled up, and the result is the budget for national defense. There is no logical way that you can say, let's spend x billion dollars less. You can only say, which part of our defense measures do we believe we can do without and still have security against all contingencies? Anyone in the Congress who advocates a percentage or a specific dollar cut in defense spending should be made to say what part of our defenses he would eliminate, and he should be candid enough to acknowledge that his cuts mean cutting our commitments to allies or inviting greater risk or both. The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend against aggression -- to preserve freedom and peace. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Nuclear Arms Reduction ☢️ INF Treaty & START Agreement — USA / USSR ☢️ #RonaldReagan 1988 * PITD Reagan's ideas served as the foundation for his administration's approach to the Cold War and to #NuclearWeapons. Abolishing nuclear weapons was one of Reagan's fundamental goals for his presidency. His desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons underpinned much of what he did as President in terms of his Cold War policy. Reagan believed that the Soviet Union's economy and technological base represented key weaknesses in its Cold War competition with the United States, because of both the intrinsic flaws of the Soviet system and the exorbitant devotion of Soviet resources to the military. Reagan sought not to manage the Cold War, but to prosecute and win it. After an initial period of disorganization, the Reagan Administration, over the course of 1982 and early 1983, established in a series of highly classified national security directives its fundamental Cold War policy, which formally ensconced Reagan's own beliefs and served as the single, unifying framework for the administration's approach throughout the rest of Reagan's presidency. Those directives set out a few basic objectives. The first was to "contain and reverse the expansion of Soviet control and military presence throughout the world." The second was "[t]o foster, if possible in concert with our allies, restraint in Soviet military spending, discourage Soviet adventurism, and weaken the Soviet alliance system by forcing the USSR to bear the brunt of its economic shortcomings, and to encourage long-term liberalizing and nationalist tendencies within the Soviet Union and allied countries." The adminis­tration would aim to promote "the process of change in the Soviet Union toward a more pluralistic politi­cal and economic system in which the power of the privileged ruling elite is gradually reduced." The third objective was to negotiate with the Soviets. The Reagan Administration believed itself to be embarking on a new and ambitious Cold War pol­icy, one guided by the President's own aims and ideas. The policy papers evidenced a special atten­tion to the political, economic, and technological weaknesses of the Soviet Union, and to how the United States could shape the decision-making environment in which Soviet leaders acted. The papers also show that the administration looked to a new, younger generation of Soviet leaders for the kind of interlocutor who might be willing to intro­duce more flexibility in Soviet policy. While the administration set out the general means by which it would pursue its policy-for example, a vigorous military competition, efforts to destabilize the Sovi­et economy, covert action, and public diplomacy- it did so more as a means of providing options rath­er than dictating specific measures, and thus gave itself strategic flexibility in carrying out its policy objectives. The Reagan Administration also set forth pro­posals for arms negotiations with the Soviet Union that called for deep reductions in each side's nuclear arsenal. As its plan for intermediate-range nuclear forces, or INF, talks, the administration proposed that if the Soviet Union eliminated its intermediate-range missiles, the United States would not deploy its own missiles, which it had planned to do in Western Europe in 1983. On strategic weapons, Reagan insisted that the name of the talks be changed from SALT, or Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, to START, or Strategic Arms Reduction Talks. He set out a START plan that called for dramatic cuts in strategic weapons, particularly on the Soviet side. See: https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/president-reagans-legacy-and-us-nuclear-weapons-policy If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Federal Government Responsibilities? ✂️📜 Ronald Reagan 1979 * PITD An excerpt from Ronald Reagans announcement for Presidential Candidacy, January 13, 1979 In recent months leaders in our government have told us that, we, the people, have lost confidence in ourselves; that we must regain the spirit and our will to achieve our national goals. Well, it is true there is a lack of confidence, an unease with things the way they are. But the confidence we have lost is confidence in our governments policies. Our unease can almost be called bewilderment at how our defense strength has deteriorated. The great productivity of our industry is now surpassed by virtually all the major nations who compete with us for world markets. And, our currency is no longer the stable measure of value it once was. But there remains the greatness of our people, our capacity for dreaming up fantastic deeds and bringing them off to the surprise of an unbelieving world. When Washingtons men were freezing at Valley Forge, Tom Paine told his fellow Americans: We have it in our power to begin the world over again. We still have that power. Todays living Americans have in our lifetime fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom and done more to advance the dignity of man than any people who ever lived on this earth. The citizens of this great nation want leadershipyesbut not a man on a white horse demanding obedience to his commands. They want someone who believes they can begin the world over again. A leader who will unleash their great strength and remove the roadblocks government has put in their way. I want to do that more than anything Ive ever wanted. And its something that I believe with Gods help I can do I believe this nation hungers for a spiritual revival; hungers to once again see honor placed above political expediency; to see government once again the protector of our liberties, not the distributor of gifts and privilege. Government should uphold and not undermine those institutions which are custodians of the very values upon which civilization is foundedreligion, education and, above all, family. Government cannot be clergyman, teacher and parent. It is our servant, beholden to us. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.

Americans Lack of Confidence? 📉😕 #RonaldReagan 1979 * #PITD An excerpt from Ronald Reagans announcement for Presidential Candidacy, January 13, 1979 In recent months leaders in our government have told us that, we, the people, have lost confidence in ourselves; that we must regain the spirit and our will to achieve our national goals. Well, it is true there is a lack of confidence, an unease with things the way they are. But the confidence we have lost is confidence in our governments policies. Our unease can almost be called bewilderment at how our defense strength has deteriorated. The great productivity of our industry is now surpassed by virtually all the major nations who compete with us for world markets. And, our currency is no longer the stable measure of value it once was. But there remains the greatness of our people, our capacity for dreaming up fantastic deeds and bringing them off to the surprise of an unbelieving world. When Washingtons men were freezing at Valley Forge, Tom Paine told his fellow Americans: We have it in our power to begin the world over again. We still have that power. Todays living Americans have in our lifetime fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom and done more to advance the dignity of man than any people who ever lived on this earth. The citizens of this great nation want leadershipyesbut not a man on a white horse demanding obedience to his commands. They want someone who believes they can begin the world over again. A leader who will unleash their great strength and remove the roadblocks government has put in their way. I want to do that more than anything Ive ever wanted. And its something that I believe with Gods help I can do I believe this nation hungers for a spiritual revival; hungers to once again see honor placed above political expediency; to see government once again the protector of our liberties, not the distributor of gifts and privilege. Government should uphold and not undermine those institutions which are custodians of the very values upon which civilization is foundedreligion, education and, above all, family. Government cannot be clergyman, teacher and parent. It is our servant, beholden to us. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns please leave them below. Thanks for watching and make it an outstanding day! *** I am a proud American, blessed father, a staunch 2A activist and a Marine Corps Veteran that just happens to be 100% blind. This is a look at the Second Amendment, firearms, self Defense, Constitutionally protected rights, Liberty and Freedom from the perspective of a Visually Impaired, Blind American. #PatriotInTheDark If you like what you have seen here, please consider showing your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PatriotInTheDark https://www.paypal.me/PatriotInTheDark Also check out our Spreadshirt Shop for Swag: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/patriot-in-the-dark Also find us here: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@PatriotInTheDark:0 https://gunstreamer.com/PatriotInTheDark https://twitter.com/patriot_itd https://www.instagram.com/patriot_in_the_dark/ PatriotInTheDark@gmail.com Disclaimer: No purchase necessary, must abide by all state and federal laws. Void where prohibited. No Puppies or sighted people were hurt during the filming of these videos.