Reading Jonah’s excellent column today, which is about the essentials, really, reminded me of something. It reminded me of a passage from the first Bush’s acceptance speech, 1988, New Orleans. I quickly found the speech (ah, the Internet). And here’s the passage:
An election that’s about ideas and values is also about philosophy. And I have one.
At the bright center is the individual. And radiating out from him or her is the family, the essential unit of closeness and of love. For it’s the family that communicates to our children — to the 21st century — our culture, our religious faith, our traditions and history.
From the individual to the family to the community, and then on out to the town, the church and the school, and, still echoing out, to the county, the state, and the nation — each doing only what it does well, and no more. And I believe that power must always be kept close to the individual — close to the hands that raise the family and run the home.
The whole speech is marvelous, and you can read it here. (A Noonan special, as I remember.)
P.S. One of my favorite passages in the speech is this — I’ve never forgotten it: “[Dukakis] sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe. And I see America as the leader — a unique nation with a special role in the world.”
These same lines could be used today. In fact, I hear Sarah Palin say similar things all the time.
Back in ’88, a man named Paul Kennedy — of Yale — was in vogue, because he said that America was in decline, and a lot of people wanted to hear it. Relished hearing it. In his speech, Bush addressed this issue: “My opponent’s view of the world sees a long slow decline for our country, an inevitable fall mandated by impersonal historical forces. But America is not in decline. America is a rising nation.” I can just see his upward hand motion, as he said those last words.
Anyway, enough walking down Memory Lane, from me.