A Great Speech
By absentee Posted in 2008 — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
In parallel to Erick's blog plea to Fred Thompson, and partly in response to some of the comments, I add my own plea for a Reagan moment.
I hear the argument that people don't want practiced, plastic, predictable politicking. However, people do want to be stirred to action occasionally. There is a place for both rehearsed speeches and extemporaneous speaking.
"Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts."
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
There is much to be said for a great speech. It can excite the mind, inflame the passions, and spur events into motion. A great speech can illuminate the dark, sway the undecided, and crystallize a philosophy.
"Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Great speeches, like great music and art, reach into that part of your mind and soul where hope meets possibility. Great speeches can make disparate interests feel like a unified band, they can impart an esprit de corps and a will to win. Like great art, great speeches inspire.
"The glow of inspiration warms us; it is a holy rapture."
Publius Ovidius NasoOvid
Let us be motivated and moved, on occasion. Yes, let us be stirred to action by great words, delivered by great men. The power of words to move mountains cannot be disputed. We are creatures of the mind, we exercise a will. Let a great speech solidify that will, let a great speech hone that will to a single purpose.
"There is no power like that of true oratory. Caesar controlled men by exciting their fears; Cicero, by captivating their affections and swaying their passions. The influence of the one perished with its author; that of the other continues to this day."
Henry Clay
Practice and preparation can add an authoritative impact. It can lend weight to a moment in time. Who can doubt the careful preparation, the care, the application of wisdom that resulted in this:
"If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay the price. "
Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, 1981
The echoes of great speeches never die, but ring forever true. Are we to coarsen ourselves so far that great words never escape the lips of those we hold in high esteem again? Let us have a moment.
Not a leadership moment, but a leader's moment.
"GOD, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps."
Josiah Gilbert Holland
Be it Fred or someone else, let us have our Reagan moment.
absentee
That doesn't undermine my point. There is room for great oratory, and some of us would argue that there is a need.
How different might things look for President Bush if he were better at this?
It is one thing not to want plastic and practiced. But to reject the very notion of excellent speech making goes too far.
To put it another way, why would you be against stirring, well-written, well-prepared remarks where appropriate?
They don't have to be Reagan, that's just an example. I am disputing your plea for the common in preference to the exceptional.
absentee
... they're hardly homophones.
I wanted to add one more point:
"I was a father at the age of 17 and a husband at the age of 17. I got started working in a factory. I borrowed and worked my way through. My folks did what they could to help. They were country folks -- came in off the farm.
"I was able to be an assistant U.S. attorney when I was 28, prosecuting most of the major federal crimes in middle Tennessee -- most of the major ones.
"Howard Baker selected me to go to Washington and be his counsel on the Watergate Committee at the age of 30.
"I came back, took on a corrupt state administration, and won against them. I went to the United States Senate, got elected twice by 20 points in a state that Bill Clinton carried twice.
"Condoleezza Rice called upon me to head up an international security advisory board to advise her on international security matters. President Bush called me to help shepherd Chief Justice -- now-Chief Justice John Roberts' nomination through the Judiciary Committee.
"If a man can do all that and be lazy, I recommend it to everybody.
"And I should add, the most important -- the most important part is I'm a proud father of five; two of them are under the age of four. So let me add that to the list."
Who says Fred can't transcend?
absentee
Fantastic essay. Recommended!
...when they see me they'll say, "There goes Loren Wallace,
the greatest thing to ever climb into a race car."
There is only one Reagan, and he is not it. There is no Reagan in this field, and in my lifetime at least, there is no Reagan on our political horizon.
Of all that can be said about Reagan, he FELT and BELIEVED in what he said. His speechwriters may have been talented, but whenever Ronald Reagan drifted from the prepared text, he went into HIS world...either because he REALLY believed in what he was saying, or because he was one HELL of a better actor than any of us ever gave him credit for being.
Reagan results are what we are all pining for...not Reagan presentation. Until we get such results, NONE in this field will ever come near the level of acceptance we keep praying will just magically surface today, or tomorrow, or next week.
haystack's 12th:
Conservatives (and Presidential Candidates especially) shall offer no aid and comfort to the opposition in times of legislative conflict (and ensuing political campaigns).