In 1961, the American Medical Association put together a PR campaign to oppose legislation that would have required the federal government to pay for medical care for all those eligible to receive Social Security. One of the AMA’s measures: to distribute an LP (remember those?) called “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine.” Today on Uncommon Knowledge, Mark Steyn and Rob Long listen — and comment.

Mark Steyn: I like the way Reagan talks in terms of liberty. I think conservatives make a mistake when they talk about big government versus small government. Because when you offer the small thing, you sound like you’re for the mean, shriveled, grungy little thing. And I don’t really think it’s an argument about big government versus small government. It’s about big freedom versus little freedom. Reagan knew that big government expands at the cost of individual liberty.

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