Sarah Palin's Speech at Ronald Reagan's Hundredth Birthday Celebration

It is no surprise that the Tea Party celebrated Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday at the Reagan Ranch Center in California. It was a wonderful tribute to Ronald Reagan or at least, that's what it should have been. Ronald Reagan's road to the Presidency was reviewed during this celebration.

This article will focus on Governor Sarah Palin's speech. I have to give Sarah Palin credit. She finally heeded the hefty price of careless talk. Her speech was reminiscent of the campaign speeches of the Reagan years including his speeches during the 1964 presidential campaign. She made no blunders. Her speech appeared carefully prepared.

The only problem I had with her speech is that her speech was suppose to be a tribute to Ronald Reagan. That's what one would expect at Reagan's hundredth birthday celebration. But Sarah Palin skillfully converted it into a 2012 Presidential campaign speech while making numerous references to Ronald Reagan.

Palin spoke of Reagan's famous speech in 1964 when he supported Barry Goldwater's bid for the Presidency. She criticized Johnson's war of poverty. This is where Sarah Palin switched gears and started criticizing the Obama administration.

Then Palin pursued a harsh criticism of the Obama presidency calling his policies a massive failure and called his energy policy insane. She called Obama's cure for the recession social engineering and the road to ruin. She claimed over-regulation and over-taxation will ruin our future. She used Reagan's words against Obama. She described the stimulus package as the bullet train to ruin. She spoke of subsidizing failures.

She stated that liberal policies will end in defeat and that big government is breaking the back of our economy.

She stated that jobs are created by the free market and by the work ethics of hard working individuals. She said that this is the key to economic revival.

She said that the choice today is as clear as it was in 1964. She said that we must put our faith in God and not in big government.She spoke about the ethics of hard work and how we must have the moral courage of our grandparent's generation when each person worked. She stated that the US military is an example of the moral courage we need.

She said that people are looking forward to the next Ronald Reagan but they won't find one. She said we should keep the flame of Reagan's revolution burning brightly. She spoke of the millions of people who believe in the great ideas Reagan espoused. She said the US is the force of good in the world and that is nothing to apologize for. She thanked her supporters for being part of the solution.

In her speech Palin used the phrase "don't tread on me." This is a reference to the Gadsden flag history. The rattlesnake became the symbol of independence during the years of the Revolutionary war. The 'don't tread on me" rattlesnake flag is the Tea Party flag.

Of course, I disagree with every criticism of liberalism in Palin's speech. But my disagreements were not intended to be the focus of this article.