Pres. Rreagan answer Beijing #2

Ronald Reagan's Seventh State of the Union Speech
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Thank you. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, and distinguished members of the House and Senate, when we first met here seven years ago -- many of us for the first time -- it was with the hope or beginning something new for America. We meet here tonight in this historic Chamber to continue that work. If anyone expects just a proud recitation of the accomplishments of my administration, I say let's leave that to history: we're not finished yet. (Applause.) So my message to you tonight is, put on your work shoes -- we're still on the job. (Applause.)

History records the power of the ideas that brought us here those seven years ago. Ideas like the individual's right to reach as far and as high as his or her talents will permit, the free market as an engine of economic progress and, as an ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao-tzu, said, "Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish; do not overdo it."

Well, these ideas were part of a larger notion -- a vision, if you will, of America herself -- an America not only rich in opportunity for the individual but an America, too, of strong families and vibrant neighborhoods, an America whose divergent but harmonizing communities were a reflection of a deeper community of values -- the value of work, of family, of religion -- and of the love of freedom that God places in each of us and whose defense He has entrusted in a special way to this nation.