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Let us pause for a moment and examine the American system of government, of social and economic life, which it is now proposed that we should alter. Our system is…founded on the conception that only…through freedom to the individual, and equal opportunity to the individual will his initiative and enterprise be summoned to spur the march of progress…This freedom of the individual creates of itself the necessity and the cheerful willingness of men to act co-operatively in a thousand ways and for every purpose as occasion arises…

According to Herbert Hoover, on what principle is the American system of government and social and economic life founded?

What does Hoover suggest is the result of the freedom given to the individual in the American system?

It is in the further development of this co-operation and a sense of its responsibility that we should find solution for many of our complex problems, and not by the extension of government into our economic and social life. The greatest function of government is to build up that co-operation, and its most resolute action should be to deny the extension of bureaucracy…

How does Hoover view the role of government in relation to individual cooperation?

From their utterances in this campaign and elsewhere we are justified in the conclusion that our opponents propose to put the Federal Government in the power business with all its additions to Federal bureaucracy, its tyranny over State and local governments, its undermining of State and local responsibilities and initiative…

What does Hoover claim his opponents are proposing for the Federal Government?

There is one thing I can say without any question of doubt—that it, that the spirit of liberalism is to create free men; it is not the regimentation of men. It is not the extension of bureaucracy. I have said in this city before now that you cannot extend the mastery of government over the daily life of a people without somewhere making it master of people’s souls and thoughts.

According to the text, how does Hoover define the spirit of liberalism?

Expansion of government in business means that the government, in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors, is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the Nation’s press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die. It is a false liberalism that interprets itself into Government operation of business.

Hoover mentions that expansion of government in business might lead to greater control over the nation’s press and platform. Why does he believe this is the case?

Every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is the road not to liberty but to less liberty. True liberalism is found not in striving to spread bureaucracy, but in striving to set bounds to it…

What does Hoover suggest poisons the roots of liberalism?

Explain in your own words what Hoover means by “It is the road not to liberty but to less liberty.”

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This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government 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…

What is the main issue of the election, according to Ronald Reagan? 

According to Reagan, what is the alternative to believing in our capacity for self-government?

In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the “Great Society,” or as we were told a few days ago by [President Johnson], we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people…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.”…

What does Senator Fullbright suggest about the president’s role and the Constitution? 

What does the term “Great Society” imply, according to the context provided by Reagan?

“The full power of centralized government” 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. For three decades, we’ve sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan…

What did the Founding Fathers believe about the power of centralized government and its control over the economy? 

According to Reagan, how has the government’s approach to solving unemployment problems been counterproductive?

We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one. So, they’re going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer—and they’ve had almost 30 years of it—shouldn’t we expect government to read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn’t they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing? But the reverse is true. Each year the need grows greater; the program grows greater.

What metaphor does Reagan use to describe the attitude of some people towardinequality and the role of government? 

Why does Reagan question the effectiveness of government planning and welfare programs?