Ronald Reagan and Star Wars

Harrison Price over at the Just Politics blog reminds us that it was under President Ronald Reagan that the SDI or Ballistic Missile Defense was created and established despite great opposition from Democrats. Of course, now that North Korea is saber rattling, the missle defense system frowned upon by Barack Obama is now to be used to protect America.

Ronald Reagan on Libertarianism

Ronald Reagan speaking in a 1975 interview with Reason magazine:

“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals—if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories, The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.”

“Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to ensure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think libertarianism and conservatism are traveling the same path.”