I thought these quotes from Winston Churchill are pertinent to many of our readers.  The key to war is focus and Winston knew how to stay focused on the main things to stay alive long enough to win.  Winston’s did a masterful job of keeping England solvent and fighting alone in WWII.  Winston knew that England could not beat Nazi Germany alone, but held on long enough to bring in allies.  The Allies were critical to help England fulfill her destiny.  Can you imagine being one of the many soldiers and civilians in England who stood up against the tyranny of Nazi Germany?  I am sure they spoke with pride to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of their courage in the face of force.  Here are some great quotes from different stages in the war.

Their Finest Hour

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may more forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their Finest Hour.'

       —House of Commons, 18 June 1940, following the collapse of France. Many thought Britain would follow.

Never Surrender

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!

       —House of Commons, 4 June 1940, following the evacuation of British and French armies from Dunkirk as the German tide swept through France.

War of the Unknown Warriors

       This is no war of chieftains or of princes, of dynasties or national ambition; it is a war of peoples and of causes. There are vast numbers, not only in this island but in every land, who will render faithful service in this war but whose names will never be known, whose deeds will never be recorded. This is a war of the Unknown Warriors; but let all strive without failing in faith or in duty, and the dark curse of Hitler will be lifted from our age.

       —BBC Broadcast, London, 14 July 1940

The Few

The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

      —Tribute to the Royal Air Force, House of Commons, 20 August 1940. The Battle of Britain peaked a month later. Because of German bombing raids, Churchill said, Britain was "a whole nation fighting and suffering together." He had worked out the phrase about "The Few" in his mind as he visited the Fighter Command airfields in Southern England.

Captain of Our Souls

The mood of Britain is wisely and rightly averse from every form of shallow or premature exultation. This is no time for boasts or glowing prophecies, but there is this—a year ago our position looked forlorn, and well nigh desperate, to all eyes but our own. Today we may say aloud before an awe-struck world, 'We are still masters of our fate. We still are captain of our souls.

       —House of Commons, 9 September 1941

The End of the Beginning

The Germans have received back again that measure of fire and steel which they have so often meted out to others. Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

       —Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House following the victory at El Alameinin North Africa, London, 10 November 1942.

Let’s follow up Ronald Reagan’s leadership post with another on how his thoughts produced actions.  My basic thesis is that how a person thinks in their own mind will flow into their actions in their life.  As a leader, it will flow into the culture they create in everything that they lead.  Reagan believed strongly in the power of the individual to govern their life better than any third party.   This belief propelled him from a small town Illinois kid to a Hollywood star, Governor of California, and President of the United States.  Not only must we give people freedom, but we must teach people how to think about their freedoms and corresponding responsibilities.  This is why the free enterprise system cannot just be transplanted into the former communist countries without some world-view changes. 

Reagan made America freer after years of less freedom, but he also cast a vision for America.  He made Americans proud to be Americans again.  One of the most important things the President does is cast a vision from their world-view.  This is why I believe understanding how a person views themselves and the individual will tell us what they feel government's role is.   Because Reagan believed in himself, America, and the individual—he felt his main role in government was to reduce its pervasiveness in our lives.  I will allow Reagan to speak for himself, but notice how his thoughts led to his words which led to his style of government.   In my opinion, Reagan’s views of government and the success of his administration prove that a modern president can lead with the same principles that guided our founding fathers.   This is a huge point for Americans to understand as they listen to the candidates to understand their world-view.   Here is Reagan in his own words from his autobiography, An American Life.

“The first rule of bureaucracy is to protect the bureaucracy.  If the people running the welfare program had let their clientele find other ways of making a living, that would have reduced their importance and their budget.”

“I didn’t think much of the inefficiency, empire building, and business-as-usual attitude that existed in wartime under the civil service system.  If I suggested that an employee might be expendable, his supervisor would look at me as if I were crazy.  He didn’t want to reduce the size of his department; his salary was based to a large extent on the number of people he supervised.  He wanted to increase it, not decrease it.”

“There probably isn’t any undertaking on earth short of assuring the national security that can’t be handled more efficiently by the forces of private enterprise than by the federal government.”

“I became convince that some of our fundamental freedoms were in jeopardy because of the emergence of a permanent government never envisioned by the framers of the Constitution: a federal bureaucracy that was becoming so powerful it was able to set policy and thwart the desires not only of ordinary citizens, but heir elected representatives in Congress. . . For example, I learned the government had six programs to help poultry growers increase egg production.  It also had a seventh program costing almost as much as all six others to buy up surplus eggs.”

“No government has ever voluntarily reduced itself in size.”

“No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income.”

“Usually with the best of intentions, Congress passed a new program, appropriated the money for it, then assigned bureaucrats in Washington to disperse the money; almost always, the bureaucrats responded by telling states, cities, counties, and schools how to spend this money.  In Madison’s words, Washington was usurping power form the states by the “gradual and silent encroachment of those in power. . . . Over time, they became so dependent on the money that, like junkies, they found it all but impossible to break the habit, and only after they were well addicted to it did they learn how pervasive the federal regulations were that came with the money.”

“In return for federal grants, state and local governments surrendered control of their destiny to a faceless bureaucracy in Washington that claimed to know better how to solve the problems of a city or town than the people who lived there. . . . Once started, a federal program benefitting any group or special interest is virtually impossible to end and the costs go on forever.”

“We had strayed a great distance from our founding father’s vision of America: They regarded the central government’s responsibility as that of providing a national security, protecting our democratic freedoms, and limiting the government’s intrusion into our lives—in sum, the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  They never envisioned vast agencies in Washington telling our farmers what to plant, our teachers what to teach, or industries what to build.  The Constitution they wrote established sovereign states, not administrative districts of the federal government.”

“The waste in dollars and cents was small compared with the waste of human potential.  It was squandered by the narcotic of giveaway programs that sapped the human spirit, diminished the incentive of people to work, destroyed families, and produced an increase in female and child poverty, deteriorating schools, and disintegrating neighborhoods.”

“My theme on the campaign stump was familiar to anyone who had heard me speak over the years: It was time to scale back the size of the federal government, reduce taxes and government intrusion in our lives, balance the budget, and return to the people the freedoms usurped from them by the bureaucrats.”

“If no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?”

“The same principle that affected my thinking applied to people in all tax brackets:  The more government takes in taxes, the less incentive people have to work.  What coal miner or assembly-line worker jumps at the offer of overtime when he knows Uncle Sam is going to take sixty percent or more of his extra pay?”

“I don’t think we will solve the problem of the deficit until three things happen:  We need more discipline on spending in Congress.  We need a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget.  And we need to give our president’s a line-item veto.”

“As I have often said, governments don’t produce economic growth, people do.  What government can do is encourage Americans to tap their well of ingenuity and unleash their entrepreneurial spirit, then get out of the way.”

“Every year that I was president, I asked Congress for a constitutional amendment that would require the federal government—like any well-run household or business—to balance its budget.  But Congress (and I concede there was opposition to it on both sides of the political aisle) wouldn’t sit still for this infringement on its spendthrift ways.  There was some important progress: . . . . But never underestimate the willingness of congressman to circumvent their own rules, or the public will, in the pursuit of their enthusiasm to spend other people’s money.”

“It is a fact of life that running for political office in this country is very expensive; once in office, few incumbents want to surrender their seats in Congress, so they often trun to the special interest, who want special consideration from them, for the money to finance their campaigns.  Then, after the election, they repay the favors—with the taxpayers’ money.”

“Until presidents have a line-item veto and there is a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget, I think the country is likely to face never-ending deficits piled up by a profligate Congress unable or unwilling to make the hard-nosed decisions necessary to bring down spending to a level the country can afford.”

“As I have often said, governments don’t produce economic growth, people do.  What governments can do is encourage Americans to tap their well of ingenuity and unleash their entrepreneurial spirit, then get out of the way.”

“For the free market to work, everyone has to compete on an equal footing.  That way, prices and demand go up or down based on free choices of people; there are winners and losers under the system of free competition, but consumers are ultimately benefactors. 
Free competition produces better products and lower prices.  However, when governments fix or control the price, impose quotas, subsidize manufacturers or farmers, or otherwise intervene in the free market with artificial restrictions, it isn’t free and it won’t work as it is supposed to work."

“The explorers of the modern era are the entrepreneurs, men with vision, with the courage to take risks and faith enough to brave the unknown. These entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. They are the prime movers of the technological revolution. In fact, one of the largest personal computer firms in the United states was started by two college students, no older than you, in the garage behind their home.  Some people, even in my own country, look at the riot of experiment that is the free market and see only waste. What of all the entrepreneurs that fail? Well, many do, particularly the successful ones. Often several times. And if you ask them the secret of their success, they'll tell you, it's all that they learned in their struggles along the way - yes, it's what they learned from failing. Like an athlete in competition, or a scholar in pursuit of the truth, experience is the greatest teacher.”

There is Reagan in his own words.  Can you see how Reagan’s worldview led to a specific style of government based on the freedom of the people to learn, grow, fail and try again until they get it right?  This is what we desire for our children and grandchildren—the opportunity to grow and lead by their own merits.  I encourage everyone to study the candidates and give them the Reagan test for their thoughts on the role of government.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

The quote below reminds me of:

William Wallace in Bravheart , Maximus in Gladiator, Winston Churchill against Hitler, George Washington against King George and England, Oliver Cromwell against King Charles, Martin Luther against the Pope, Spartacus against his Roman masters, Demosthenes against Philip!

When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Throughout history, men and women have fought against tyrants who will steal a person's property, liberty and life.  It takes men and women of character to stand for their freedom against the tyrants.  Can you give any other examples that this quote reminds you of?

The life story of Booker T. Washington may be the most inspirational I have read yet.  Very few people in life have overcome as much as this former slave did to accomplish so many things.  If success is measure by how far you come from where you started, then Booker may be the most successful American.  Booker was born a slave in Virginia shortly before the Civil War.   Booker was born on the Burroughs farm and life was the drudgery of labor for no gain or purpose.  Young Booker was fascinated by the schoolroom he walked the young Burroughs girls to everyday.  He was amazed when people could take the letters and make them into words.  Booker was hungry to learn the magic of reading, but had no books or teachers. 

After the Civil War life did not get any easier for young Booker.  He worked in the salt mines as a pre-teen to put food on the table for the newly free family.  In an effort to escape the Malden salt mines—Booker took a job working for Viola Ruffner.  Mrs. Ruffner was the wife of the owner of the mines and was the embodiment of the Protestant work ethic.  Booker was exposed to the exacting attention to detail which he would adopt as his own.  Booker also was taught to read by this saintly lady and allowed to peruse her extensive library.  Young Booker’s mind devoured the information as a thirsty man would water on arriving at an oasis.  Mrs. Ruffner would be the difference maker in Booker Washington’s life and develop the habits that changed a man’s destiny.

There are so many incredible moments in Booker’s life.  He was truly a driven man that understood it is not what happens to you, but how you handle it that counts.  Booker had to deal with prejudice and criticism his whole life.  Instead of getting bitter and allow other to control his thoughts—Booker chose to get better and maintain responsibility for his attitude and life.  Washington had learned a powerful truth from his experiences: hatred does more damage to the hater than to the hated.  Washington insisted, “No race can cherish ill-will and hatred toward another race without its losing all those elements that tend to create and perpetuate a strong and healthy manhood.”  Most of us will never experience the amount or type of rejection and prejudice that Booker experienced.  But we all have had moments of conflict and unfair attacks.  How did you respond?  Did you respond like Booker and know that, “It is better to be wronged than to commit a wrong” or did you respond with hatred and bitterness in your own heart.  I love the quote, “Bitterness and resentment is drinking poison while expecting someone else to die.”  Life is too short to be filled with bitterness and resentment.

Booker built a college in Tuskegee Alabama and affected many young men and women with his message of work and hope.  I believe Booker Washington is the best example in America on someone who chose to get better and not bitter.  If Booker can overcome and contribute, then certainly you and I can overcome and contribute.  I just picked up Booker’s life story, Up From Slavery and plan to read it.  I am always inspired by Dream, Struggle, Victory stories because I find that models life.   No great dream is accomplished without great struggles.  Instead of fighting God’s plan—we must ask what we are to learn from each struggle that comes our way.   Booker went on to become one of the most influential Americans of his time and a hero to many people.   I encourage you to read his story of overcoming and reflect on our own small challenges in comparison to his.  This will give you a perspective to charge ahead in faith to accomplish your life’s purpose.  Let me close with another quote from Booker T. Washington, “You may fill your heads with knowledge or skillfully train your hands, but unless it is based upon high, upright character, upon a true heart, it will amount to nothing.  You will be no better than the most ignorant.”   Yes character is destiny and character is an inside job!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward