The Eighties

Margaret Tatcher (primeira-ministra britânica entre 1979 e 1990):

I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.

Socialists cry "Power to the people", and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power over people, power to the State.

We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.

Human rights did not begin with the French Revolution...[they] really stem from a mixture of Judaism and Christianity...[we English] had 1688, our quiet revolution, where Parliament exerted its will over the King...it was not the sort of Revolution that France's was...'Liberty, equality, fraternity' — they forgot obligations and duties I think. And then of course the fraternity went missing for a long time.

Ronald Reagan (primeiro-ministro norte-americano entre 1981 e 1989):

How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

"We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free.

Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.

We have found, in our country, that when people have the right to make decisions as close to home as possible, they usually make the right decisions.

Grandes Líderes: Ronald Reagan

Porque Ronald Reagan representou uma nova forma de fazer politica. Porque este, a par de Margaret Tatcher, representa, de certa forma, uma ideologia que é a minha.

Considerado O Grande Comunicador, ao que ele uma vez respondeu: "Nunca pensei que era o meu estilo ou as palavras que usei que faziam a diferença: era o seu conteudo. Eu não era um grande comunicador, mas comunicava coisas importantes..."

Também achei esta pérola na wikiquote:

Unfortunately, he is a powerful speaker with an appeal to the emotions. He leaves little doubt that his idea of the 'challenging new world' is one in which the Federal Government will grow bigger and do more and of course spend more....One last thought --- shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's bold new imaginative program with its proper age? Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx - first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a Government being Big Brother to us all. Hitler called his 'State Socialism' and way before him it was 'benevolent monarchy.'"

Referia-se, está claro, a outro grande icone norte-americano: J.F.Kennedy. Curioso, que cá para mim, a parte do powerful speaker with an appeal to the emotions, tanto se pode aplicar a Kennedy como a Reagan. A única diferença, lá está, estaria no Unfortunately. Porque a um bom líder não bastam as boas ideias, é preciso saber fazer passar essas boas ideias para os outros.

Nos dias que correm, a comunicação passou a ter mais importância que o conteudo da mensagem. Hoje é tudo muito light, tudo muito fabricado, tudo muito sem conteudo. Quem dúvida, olhe para o nosso Primeiro Ministro.

E só para terminar, gostava de deixar aqui este quadrozinho:

Em 1984, Reagan conquistou o seu segundo mandato, numas eleições em que dos 50 estados norte-americanos, 48 foram ganhos por ele. Curioso também estas eleições terem sido em 1984, titulo do livro de George Orwell, que previa um futuro nada risonho para o mundo se constituido por estados totalitários - o estado Big Brother.