A New Time for Choosing on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Today’s Challenges to the Principles of Ronald Reagan’s Conservative Manifesto

Abstract

Ronald Reagan’s 1964 “A Time for Choosing” speech expressed concern that government taxed too much of citizens’ incomes, that government spent more than it raises, that government was transforming into a welfare state trapping the poor, that government debt was skyrocketing, that the debt was held by foreign interests overseas, and that America’s enemies abroad rejected the moral foundations of our political order. Much of this sounds familiar.

What would Reagan have said about social themes had he presented the speech today, particularly as the cultural consensus has broken down on issues of family and life? This essay considers Reagan’s well-known views, and thus what he might say today, on the importance of the institution of marriage, the dignity of unborn children, and the significance of religious freedom.