# A Reagan homily that's come back to annoy me again **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 27, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228 "2022-05-27T20:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/1 "2022-05-27T20:05:41Z")
A friend posted a couple of pictures, one of Biden, the other of Reagan. In each picture was a quote. I didn’t read the Biden quote, or anything else, once I saw Reagan’s. It was the “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” I wrote “Absolutely true that millionaire actors don’t need any help from the government.” Apparently, this bullshit was regarded as a nugget of wisdom from this creep. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/2 "2022-05-27T20:57:02Z")
Remember, Reagan was responsible for the [fumbling US invasion of a small Caribbean nation](https://sociology.yale.edu/sites/default/files/invasion_of_grenada_foresight.pdf) with a token defensive force on the most flimsy of pretexts, [trading weapons to Iran in exchange for hostages](https://www.cfr.org/blog/revisiting-president-reagans-iran-arms-hostages-initiative) and then [lying about it in a public speech](https://youtu.be/rYdvBZxPhLY), and [suppling weapons and training to Contra rebels in Nicaragua in direct violation of the Congressionally-imposed Boland Amendments](https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/n-contrasus.php). So, basically he set the stage for our current post-September 11, 2001 foreign policy of unilateral invasions, lying to the public, and generally having things blow up in our face all the way back in the mid-‘Eighties…and suffered exactly no consequences for any of it. It seems very quaint now that he could get away with so much when we actually hold people accountable for their actio…oh, wait, this is Earth-616? Never mind, same as before. Carry on, carry on. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/3 "2022-05-27T20:59:58Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > A friend posted a couple of pictures, one of Biden, the other of > Reagan. In each picture was a quote. I didn’t read the > Biden quote, or anything else, once I saw Reagan’s. It was the “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Yup, that was Reagan’s cowboy-businessman schtick. Get millions of working-class and middle-class voters to disdain the idea of government actually achieving improvements for the people, in favor of a fantasy of rugged-frontiersmanhood where all you need is for the government to leave you alone. Then the consequent anti-government mindset enables you to push through all sorts of deregulatory legislation and tax cuts etc. to benefit the wealthy and powerful. Forty years later, the children and grandchildren of your voters will be wondering why their stability and prosperity are still so precarious even as the very wealthy are more wealthy and numerous than ever. But you’ll be rich and famous and long dead, so that won’t be your problem. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/4 "2022-05-27T21:06:18Z")
You might appreciate this analysis, which explains both how “It had clearly become a well-worn observation in political and government circles by the time Reagan said it” and why “It was, and is, a moronic and childish thing to say and believe.” > **[Ronald Reagan “Most Terrifying Words - ‘I’m from the government and I’m here...](https://professorbuzzkill.com/reagan-terrifying-words/)** > > At a press conference on August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/5 "2022-05-27T21:07:16Z")
I can think of many more terrifying words: “You have cancer” “Your child is missing” ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/6 "2022-05-27T21:17:06Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > “You have cancer” > “Your child is missing” “And I’m from the government and I’m here to help you with your problems.” ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/7 "2022-05-27T21:25:24Z")
Then there was Sabra-Shatila and the Marine barracks and Ollie North’s girl friend smuggling classified documents out of the White House in her panties. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/8 "2022-05-27T21:51:50Z")
It might be well to ask yourself: are you better off today than you were forty two years ago? Me, I suppose so, but what’s so fundamentally wrong with posing that question with the word “we?” ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/9 "2022-05-28T02:25:33Z")
Trump has won re-election. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/10 "2022-05-28T02:29:51Z")
Reagan started the process of discrediting the idea of public service being a noble calling and then he dismantled the idea that greed was bad. He set the stage for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/11 "2022-05-28T03:17:04Z")
Reagan was the anti-New Deal Republican that the party had wanted since the New Deal began. They couldn’t help running Eisenhower the war hero. The party poobahs considered him too liberal though, and eventually they felt the same about his VP, Richard Nixon, and Nixon’s unanticipated successor Gerald Ford too. The plan had always been to dismantle New Deal policies, shut down unions, eliminate business taxes, end business regulations and though it hadn’t always been a core element of their policies they took the hint from that raging liberal Nixon and adopted the Southern Strategy. If it wasn’t bad enough that Reagan was a skilled huckster who loved to brag about how good he was at lying, the Democratic party spent 20 years making stupid decisions to help him get elected. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/12 "2022-05-28T04:10:20Z")
The concept goes back well before President Reagan. “If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” [Henry David Thoreau](https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/henry-david-thoreau-quotes) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/13 "2022-05-28T04:23:59Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > The concept goes back well before President Reagan. Yes, Thudlow\_Boink’s linked article in post #4 explained that it had become a humorous catchphrase beginning at latest in the 1960s. > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > “If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” But in Thoreau’s case, he was explaining why he wasn’t interested in providing any private charitable help to his poorer neighbors, on the grounds that he didn’t want anybody else providing help to him. He was not trying to argue that it was specifically official government help that was the problem. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/14 "2022-05-29T02:25:37Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > But in Thoreau’s case, he was explaining why he wasn’t interested in providing any private charitable help to his poorer neighbors, on the grounds that he didn’t want anybody else providing help to him. He was not trying to argue that it was specifically official government help that was the problem. We the people are the government. I can’t imagine Thoreau taking kindly to government help, either. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/15 "2022-05-29T03:05:32Z")
Although like most of America’s self styled individualists (like Reagan) he was a huge pussy. Mommy did his laundry. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/16 "2022-05-29T03:17:05Z")
His mom did his laundry for him. His family and Emerson’s family fed him on a near daily basis. He got plenty of help. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/17 "2022-05-29T03:19:51Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > He got plenty of help. That’s just what he wanted you to think: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/b5wfPlgKFh8/maxresdefault.jpg "President Reagan, Mastermind - SNL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5wfPlgKFh8) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/18 "2022-05-29T03:20:06Z")
Reagan failed to uphold his own self-declared standard. During the eight years of his presidency, both government spending and the number of government employees increased. So if you were somebody who actually believed in limiting the size of the government rather than just talking about it, you would have been voting against Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/19 "2022-05-29T03:24:51Z")
Reagan is the ultimate conservative hero, a white actor playing a president. John Wayne avoided military service and the type of person who voted for Reagan loved his war movies. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228/20 "2022-05-29T03:29:35Z")
I was talking about Thoreau, but this is funny. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-reagan-homily-thats-come-back-to-annoy-me-again/965228.md?page=2)