Transcript: National Press Club Luncheon Speakers, Ronald Reagan, June 16, 1966

(Excerpt from 14:42-17:37 of original)

Ronald Reagan: 

It’s been said there’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. And make no mistake about it, such an idea is abroad in the land.

Americans divided in so many ways, I believe are united in their determination that no area of human need should be ignored.

People that can reach the stars have decided that the problems of human misery can be solved and they will settle for nothing less. The big question is not whether, but at what cost, these problems will be solved. I can’t accept and I’m sure most responsible people don’t accept the negative philosophy that though of those who would close their eyes hoping that these problems would disappear or the questions of unemployment, inequality of opportunity, or the needs of the elderly and the sick would take care of themselves. 

But neither should we submit unquestioningly to those in our midst, whose only solution is the abdication of personal and local responsibility as they pass every problem on to the federal government. But the trouble with that solution is that for every ounce of federal help we get, we surrender an ounce of personal freedom.

A great society grows greater every day, greater in cost, greater in inefficiency, and greater in waste. Now, this isn’t a quarrel with the humanitarian goals, or to deny that the great society can in a way achieve those goals. But I do deny that it offers the only or even the best method of achieving the solution for those goals. My own state of California, the administration of our government there, is guilty of a lack of leadership. Unwilling or unable to solve the state’s problems, it has reduced our state virtually to an administrative district in the federal government. I don’t deny the federal government does have a place, but state sovereignty is an integral part of the checks and balances designed to restrain the power, or one group, from using power to destroy the freedom of another.

I think we can do more in our own state if we keep some of our tax dollars in California, instead of running them through some of these puzzle palaces on the Potomac where a certain shrinkage takes place. Better I’ll help as neither reduce the size of the burden of state government nor as it solves the problems. In California, our government is greater in proportion to population and the government of any of the 50 states, and it’s increasing twice as fast as the increase in population. 

Now what is obviously needed is not more government, but better government, seeking solutions and not adding to bureaucracy, or unbalancing the budget, or further centralizing power in the federal government.