Patriot In The Dark

⚔️ A New Beginning Pt 4 — RNC Acceptance Speech, Detroit MI – #RonaldReagan 1980 * #PITD July 17, 1980 Detroit MI. Excerpt Adversaries large and small test our will and seek to confound our resolve, but the Carter Administration gives us weakness when we need strength; vacillation when the times demand firmness. Why? Because the Carter Administration live in the world of make-believe. Every day, it dreams up a response to that days troubles, regardless of what happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow. The Administration lives in a world where mistakes, even very big ones, have no consequence. The rest of us, however, live in the real world. It is here that disasters are overtaking our nation without any real response from the White House. I condemn the Administrations make-believe; its self deceit and - above all its transparent hypocrisy. For example, Mr. Carter says he supports the volunteer army, but he lets military pay and benefits slip so low that many of our enlisted personnel are actually eligible for food stamps. Re-enlistment rates drop and, just recently, after he fought all week against a proposal to increase the pay of our men and women in uniform, he helicoptered out to our carrier the USS Nimitz, which was returning from long months of duty. He told the crew that he advocated better pay for them and their comrades! Where does he really stand, now that hes back on shore? Ill tell you where I stand. I do not favor a peacetime draft or registration, but I do favor pay and benefit levels that will attract and keep highly motivated men and women in our volunteer forces and an active reserve trained and ready for an instant call in case of an emergency. An Annapolis graduate may be at the helm of the ship of state, but the ship has no rudder. Critical decisions are made at times almost in Marx Brothers fashion, but who can laugh? Who was not embarrassed when the Administration handed a major propaganda victory in the United Nations to the enemies of Israel, our staunch Middle East ally for three decades, and then claimed that the American vote was a mistake, the result of a failure of communication between the President, his Secretary of State and his UN Ambassador? Who does not feel a growing sense of unease as our allies, facing repeated instances of an amateurish and confused Administration; reluctantly conclude that America is unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations as leader of the free world? Who does not feel rising alarm when the question in any discussion of foreign policy is no longer, Should we do something?, but Do we have the capacity to do anything? The Administration which has brought us to this state is seeking your endorsement for four more years of weakness, indecision, mediocrity and incompetence. No American should vote until he or she has asked, is the United States stronger and more respected now than it was three-and-a-half years ago? Is the world today a safer place in which we live? It is the responsibility of the President of the United States, in working for peace, to insure that the safety of our people cannot successfully be threatened by a hostile foreign power. As President, fulfilling that responsibility will be my Number One priority. We are not a warlike people. Quite the opposite. We always seek to live in peace. We resort to force infrequently and with great reluctance and only after we have determined that it is absolutely necessary. We are awed and rightly so by the forces of destruction at loose in the world in this nuclear era. But neither can we be nae or foolish. Four times in my lifetime America has gone to war, bleeding the lives of its young men into the sands of beachheads, the fields of Europe and the jungles and rice paddies of Asia. We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted. We simply cannot learn these lessons the hard way again without risking our destruction. ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org

💰 A New Beginning Pt 3 — RNC Acceptance Speech, Detroit MI – #RonaldReagan 1980 * PITD July 17, 1980 Detroit MI. Excerpt On that date we are going to initiate action to get substantial relief for our taxpaying citizens and action to put people back to work. None of this will be based on any new form of monetary tinkering or fiscal sleight-of-hand. We will simply apply to government the common sense we all use in our daily lives. Work and family are at the center of our lives; the foundation of our dignity as a free people. When we deprive people of what they have earned, or take away their jobs, we destroy their dignity and undermine their families. We cannot support our families unless there are jobs; and we cannot have jobs unless people have both money to invest and the faith to invest it. These are concepts that stem from the foundation of an economic system that for more than two hundred years has helped us master a continent, create a previously undreamed of prosperity for our people and has fed millions of others around the globe. That system will continue to serve us in the future if our government will stop ignoring the basic values on which it was built and stop betraying the trust and good will of the American workers who keep it going. The American people are carrying the heaviest peacetime tax burden in our nations history and it will grow even heavier, under present law, next January. This burden is crushing our ability and incentive to save, invest and produce. We are taxing ourselves into economic exhaustion and stagnation. This must stop. We must halt this fiscal self-destruction and restore sanity to our economic system. I have long advocated a 30 percent reduction in income tax rates over a period of three years. This phased tax reduction would begin with a 10 percent down payment tax cut in 1981, which the Republicans in Congress and I have already proposed. A phased reduction of tax rates would go a long way toward easing the heavy burden on the American people. But, we should not stop here. Within the context of economic conditions and appropriate budget priorities during each fiscal year of my Presidency, I would strive to go further. This would include improvement in business depreciation taxes so we can stimulate investment in order to get plants and equipment replaced, put more Americans back to work and put our nation back on the road to being competitive in world commerce. We will also work to reduce the cost of government as a percentage of our Gross National Product. The first task of national leadership is to set honest and realistic priorities in our policies and our budget and I pledge that my Administration will do that. When I talk of tax cuts, I am reminded that every major tax cut in this century has strengthened the economy, generated renewed productivity and ended up yielding new revenues for the government by creating new investment, new jobs and more commerce among our people. The present administration has been forced by us Republicans to play follow the leader with regard to a tax cut. But, we must take with the proverbial grain of salt any tax cut proposed by those who have given us the greatest tax increase in our history. ** Thanks to the economic policies of the Democratic party, millions of Americans find themselves out of work. Millions more have never even had a fair chance to learn new skills, hold a decent job, seize the opportunity to climb the ladder and secure for themselves and their families a share in the prosperity of this nation. It is time to put Americans back to work; to make our cities and towns resound with the confident voices of men and women of all races, nationalities and faiths bringing home to their families a decent paycheck they can cash for money. For those without skills, well find a way to help them get skills. For those without job opportunities, well stimulate new opportunities, particularly in the inner cities where they live. For those who have abandoned hope, well restore hope and well welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again! ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org

⚡️ A New Beginning Pt 2 — RNC Acceptance Speech, Detroit MI – #RonaldReagan 1980 * PITD July 17, 1980 Detroit MI. Excerpt The first Republican President once said, While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years. If Mr. Lincoln could see whats happened in these last three-and-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. But, with the virtues that are our legacy as a free people and with the vigilance that sustains liberty, we still have time to use our renewed compact to overcome the injuries that have been done to America these past three-and-a half years. First we must overcome something the present Administration has cooked up: a new and altogether indigestible economic stew, one part inflation, one part high unemployment, one part recession, one part runaway taxes, one part deficit spending and seasoned by an energy crisis. Its an economic stew that has turned the national stomach. It is as if Mr. Carter had set out to prove, once and for all, that economics is indeed a dismal science. Ours are not problems of abstract economic theory. These are problems of flesh and blood; problems that cause pain and destroy the moral fiber of real people who should not suffer the further indignity of being told by the White House that it is all somehow their fault. We do not have inflation because, as Mr. Carter says, we have lived too well. The head of a government which has utterly refused to live within its means and which has, in the last few days, told us that this years deficit will be $60 billion, dares to point the finger of blame at business and labor, both of which have been engaged in a losing struggle just trying to stay even. High taxes, we are told, are somehow good for us, as if, when government spends our money it isnt inflationary, but when we spend it, it is. Those who preside over the worst energy shortage in our history tell us to use less, so that we will run out of oil, gasoline and natural gas a little more slowly. Conservation is desirable, of course, for we must not waste energy. But conservation is not the sole answer to our energy needs. America must get to work producing more energy. The Republican program for solving economic problems is based on growth and productivity. Large amounts of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores, untouched because the present Administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy. Coal offers great potential. So does nuclear energy produced under rigorous safety standards. It could supply electricity for thousands of industries and millions of jobs and homes. It must not be thwarted by a tiny minority opposed to economic growth which often finds friendly ears in regulatory agencies for its obstructionist campaigns. Make no mistake. We will not permit the safety of our people or our environmental heritage to be jeopardized, but we are going to reaffirm that the economic prosperity of our people is a fundamental part of our environment. Our problems are both acute and chronic, yet all we hear from those in positions of leadership are the same tired proposals for more government tinkering, more meddling and more control all of which led us to this state in the first place. Can anyone look at the record of this Administration and say Well done? Can anyone compare the state of our economy when the Carter Administration took office with where we are today and say, Keep up the good work? Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today and say, Lets have four more years of this? I believe the American people are going to answer these questions the first week of November and their answer will be, No weve had enough. And, when the American people have spoken, it will be up to us beginning next January 20th to offer an Administration and Congressional leadership of competence and more than a little courage. ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org

A New Beginning Pt 1 — Republican National Convention Acceptance Speech – #RonaldReagan 1980 * #PITD July 17, 198 -0 Detroit MI. Excerpt I am very proud of our party tonight. This convention has shown to all America a party united, with positive programs for solving the nations problems; a party ready to build a new consensus with all those across the land who share a community of values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom. I know we have had a quarrel or two in our party, but only as to the method of attaining a goal. There was no argument about the goal. As President, I will establish a liaison with the 50 Governors to encourage them to eliminate, wherever it exists, discrimination against women. I will monitor Federal laws to insure their implementation and to add statutes if they are needed. More than anything else, I want my candidacy to unify our country; to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation, who is a member of this community of shared values. Never before in our history have Americans been called upon to face three grave threats to our very existence, any one of which could destroy us. We face a disintegrating economy, a weakened defense and an energy policy based on the sharing of scarcity. The major issue of this campaign is the direct political, personal and moral responsibility of Democratic party leadership-in the White House and in Congress-for this unprecedented calamity which has befallen us. They tell us they have done the most that humanly could be done. They say that the United States has had its day in the sun; that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems; that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities. My fellow citizens I utterly reject that view. The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading the nation. I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose. We have come together here because the American people deserve better from those to whom they entrust our nations highest offices, and we stand united in our resolve to do something about it. We need a rebirth of the American tradition of leadership at every level of government and in private life as well. The United States of America is unique in world history because it has a genius for leaders many leaders on many levels. ** Trust me government asks that we concentrate our hopes and dreams on one man; that we trust him to do whats best for us. My view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs in the people. The responsibility to live up to that trust is where it belongs, in their elected leaders. That kind of relationship, between the people and their elected leaders, is a special kind of compact; an agreement among themselves to build a community and abide by its laws. ** Together, let us make this a new beginning. Let us make a commitment to care for the needy; to teach our children the values and the virtues handed down to us by our families; to have the courage to defend those values and the willingness to sacrifice for them. ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org

☀️ American Direction — remarks to Conservative Political Leaders — #RonaldReagan 1988 * PITD White House Briefing for Conservative Political Leaders July 5, 1988 Excerpt You know, for 8 years, this White House has been guided by your vision and your ideals. And what an 8 years it's been -- so much achieved in so many areas. It reminds me of what a Hollywood great, Sam Goldwyn, one of the founders of MGM, once said when he got worked up about a script. Sam Goldwyn had a way with words. He said, ``That story is wonderful. It's magnificent. It's prolific.'' [Laughter] Well, ``wonderful, magnificent, and prolific'' describe the 8 years of what the press never tires of saying is the most conservative administration to come to Washington in generations. Well, of course, for some of us a generation is forever. [Laughter] We all remember the inflation and stagnation that the taxes, the spending, and regulations of liberalism gave America in the late seventies. We remember how the liberals used the sign of failure to tell us that America needed more of their old, bitter medicine. Imagine, less than a decade ago, some in this town were saying seriously that the way to make America grow and the way to get people back to work harder was to raise taxes. And we remember that somehow our leaders had lost sight of a faith, a basic fundamental faith, that has guided Americans since that day more than 200 years ago when a small group of men, meeting in Philadelphia, signed their names to a document that began, ``We, the people.'' Yes, it was a faith in the people they had lost, a faith in the basic goodness, decency, and wisdom of the American people and what our founders called the American experiment. We conservatives brought that faith back to Washington. And today America's in the longest economic peacetime expansion on record. More people have been at work this year than ever before on record. We are in an entrepreneurial boom unlike any the world has ever seen. That boom has produced a technological flowering that is unmatched not only in the world but in world history. Conservative writer George Gilder has pointed out that in the entire Industrial Revolution productivity increased by a factor of 100. Already microelectronics have skyrocketed the productivity of information-based industries by more than a million. No wonder America is exporting more than ever this year, and no wonder that when you look at the potential employment pool in the United States -- and that's everyone, male and female, 16 years of age and up -- think of it, everybody in the United States over the age of 16, including retirees and everything else, that pool, the proportion of it that is at work is higher than ever before in our history -- 63.6 percent of them are employed. But that isn't all that putting our principles to work has meant for this nation we love. It's meant judges on the Federal bench across our country who know that every criminal is not a victim of society and that equal justice means justice for the victims of crime. ** And it's meant, around the world, an America that once again stands up for its principles, that has embraced a forward strategy for freedom, that will proclaim the gospel of democracy and liberty from every mountaintop, and that in this world, this dangerous place, knows that the one road, the only road, to peace is through American strength. We've come so far. Who would have believed when I took the oath of office 7\1/2\ years ago that, almost for the first time since the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union would today be pulling out of a nation, Afghanistan, and not clothed in victory? And still, my friends, all we've done, all we've achieved, all the promise for the future that we've opened up for our nation could be lost in just a few months. Our opponents are putting together a campaign that is subtle and clever. The American people understand what liberalism means and don't like it. So, our opponents plan to go to the voters incognito. They're putting on political trench coats and sunglasses ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org

https://youtu.be/dPtILBWaSHg

Truth on Spending & Debt — Republican National Convention — #RonaldReagan 1988 * #PITD Remarks at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans Louisiana August 15, 1988 Excerpt Today we have the first treaty in world history to eliminate an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles. We're working on the Strategic Defense Initiative to defend ourselves and our allies against nuclear terror. And American and Soviet relations are the best they've ever been since World War II. And virtually all this change occurred-and continues to occur—in spite of the resistance of those liberal elites who loudly proclaim that it's time for a change. They resisted our defense buildup. They resisted our tax cuts. They resisted cutting the fat out of government. And they resisted our appointments of judges committed to the law and the Constitution. And it's time for some more straight talk. This time it's about the budget deficit. Yes, it's much too high. But the President doesn't vote for a budget, and the President can't spend a dime. Only the Congress can do that. They blame the defense increases for the deficit, yet defense spending today, in real dollars, is almost exactly what it was 6 years ago. In a 6-year period, Congress cut defense spending authority by over $125 billion. And for every $1 reduction in defense outlays, they added $2 to domestic spending. Now, if they had passed my first budget, my first spending plan in 1982, the cumulative outlays and deficits would have been $207 billion lower by 1986. Every single year I've been in office, I have supported and called for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and the liberals have said no every year. I called for the line-item veto, which 43 Governors have, to cut fat in the budget, and the liberals have said no. Every year I've attempted to limit their wild spending sprees, and they've said no. They would have us believe that runaway budget deficits began in 1981 when we took office. Well, let me tell you something: The fact is, when they began their war on poverty in the middle sixties, from 1965 through 1980—'m just those 15 years, the budgets increased to five times what they had been, and the deficits went up to 52 times what they had been before their war on poverty. Now, don't we know that if they're elected their answer will be the one they've relied on in the past, and that is higher taxes. The other party has controlled the House of Representatives for 52 out of the last 56 years. They've controlled the Senate also for 46 of those years. Where we really need a change is to elect Republican majorities in both Houses. ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org

https://youtu.be/dPtILBWaSHg

https://youtu.be/dPtILBWaSHg

American Spirit — Republican National Convention — #RonaldReagan 1988 * #PITD Remarks at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana August 15, 1988 Excerpt This convention brings back so many memories to a fellow like me. I can still remember my first Republican convention: Abraham Lincoln giving a speech that- [laughter] —sent tingles down my spine. No, I have to confess, I wasn't actually there. The truth is, way back then, I belonged to the other party. [Laughter] But surely we can remember another convention. Eight years ago, we gathered in Detroit in a troubled time for our beloved country. And we gathered solemnly to share our dreams. When I look back, I wonder if we dared be ' so bold to take on those burdens. But in that same city of Detroit, when the 20th century was only in its second year, another great Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, told Americans not to hold back from dangers ahead but to rejoice: "Our hearts lifted with the faith that to us and to our children it shall be given to make this Republic the mightiest among the peoples of mankind." Teddy said those, years ago. In 1980 we needed every bit of that kind of faith. That year, it was our dream that together we could rescue America and make a new beginning, to create anew that shining city on a hill. The dream we shared was to reclaim our government, to transform it from one that was consuming our prosperity into one that would get out of the way of those who created prosperity. It was a dream of again making our nation strong enough to preserve world peace and freedom and to recapture our national destiny. We made a determination that our dream would not be built on a foundation of sand—something called "Trust Me Government"—but we would trust, instead, the American spirit. And, yes, we were unashamed in believing that this dream was driven by a community of shared values of family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom. And on the night of July 17th, 1980, we left with a mutual pledge to conduct a national crusade to make America great again. We had faith because the heroes in our midst had never failed us before. Tom Paine knew what these Americans with character of steel could do when he wrote: "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." And my fellow citizens, while our triumph is not yet complete, the road has been glorious indeed. ** 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. Reagan Presidential Library: www.reaganlibrary.gov President Reagan's Foundation: http://www.reaganfoundation.org