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July 4, 2024 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
07:34
Sharing This Message on This July 4th Is More Important Than Ever
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dave rubin
01:46
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ronald reagan
04:59
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dave rubin
Hey guys, no regular show today, but I just wanted to take a minute and wish everybody a happy July 4th.
This is the 248th year of this great country.
And as a 48 year old, I know that comes with a little wear and tear, but you know, as politics have gone completely sideways and the news is insane and all of the stuff that we always talk about on this show and that we're all living through right now, it's particularly important this year, I think, to take a moment and really just marvel at the wonders of this country and how people that were way better than most of us built the most magical place that humans could have only dreamed of beforehand that everybody would want to come to and everybody would have a chance and it would be a little bit imperfect and messy at some times but it would offer opportunity for everybody to pursue their dreams and pursue that happiness thing.
It's pretty spectacular.
I hope you'll all be celebrating with friends and family and getting a little sun and on the beach and in the pool and all that stuff.
And I thought we'd show you two videos quickly.
This first one is Ronald Reagan 1983, his 4th of July speech.
Oh, and this is from the official DaveRubin.store.
This is our July Fourth Merch, and I believe we might be sold out of this thing already, but forget all that for now.
Listen to some wisdom from Ronald Reagan, and then we'll throw to one other clip as a cold close.
ronald reagan
Millions of our people all across our great country will, on this Fourth of July weekend, join together in thinking about freedom and the men and women who sacrificed to make it our inheritance.
It's easy to forget just what a revolution these Americans made.
It's easy to forget how they amazed the world and how many hopes they raised.
President George Washington, in the very first inaugural address, warned Americans that they had a new responsibility.
He said, the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the Republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps as deeply as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
Now, you may not think of yourself or our democracy as an experiment, but look around.
All over the world, millions and millions of people still live under tyranny.
Their leaders claim that they're the wave of the future, that history is on their side.
And yet their people look to us for hope.
Their people look to America as the cradle of freedom, the place where the great civilized ideas of individual liberty, representative government, and the rule of law under God are realities.
Yes, these people see America as the experiment that works, and democracy works because of the physical and moral courage of individuals, some famous, others deserving of recognition.
I think of a group of women we honored in Washington this past April, an honor long overdue.
They were nurses who'd been captured in the Philippines during World War II and then spent nearly three years in prison camps.
Lieutenant Colonel Madeline Ulm, who was captured at Corregidor as described tending wounded soldiers during the long months of siege.
Our atmosphere was one of dusty Paul, ever-present, in which we moved, worked, tried to eat, tried to breathe, in an endless nightmare, she said.
In Santa Tomas prison camp, Colonel Ullman and her fellow nurses quickly organized into shifts and began to care for other prisoners.
They fought against diseases and starvation.
They lacked medicine and equipment and food.
But miraculously, every one of the 81 American women POWs had survived.
These women would not describe themselves as extraordinary Americans.
They simply volunteered to serve their country, and they chose to serve it with courage and hope.
Their patriotism, as they gathered in Washington 40 years after their captured imprisonment, remains strong and vibrant.
Of course, we're accustomed to thinking of courage during a time of war.
But democracy requires political courage as well.
In 1954, when he was convalescing from a painful back operation, Senator John F. Kennedy had time to think about political courage.
The result was a book entitled, Profiles in Courage, in which he wrote, In the days ahead, only the very courageous will be able to take the hard and unpopular decisions necessary for our survival in the struggle with a powerful enemy.
And only the very courageous will be able to keep alive the spirit of individualism and dissent which gave birth to this nation, nourished it as an infant, and carried it through its severest tests upon the attainment of its maturity.
We've seen a great example of this kind of political courage just recently, when a majority made up of both Republicans and Democrats in the Congress set aside narrow political considerations and embraced a bipartisan program for enhancing America's security and stability through meaningful arms reductions and modernization of our defenses.
It was not easy for many of these men and women to vote for the MX missile.
Some have been harshly criticized by other members in their own party.
Indeed, they faced considerable pressure and corresponding political risks.
While accepting such risks, the only benefit they've received is the knowledge that they placed foremost their hopes for successful arms reductions and greater security of their nation.
Together with the Congress, we're doing everything possible to achieve genuine arms reductions.
Our negotiators have been given instructions that provide greater flexibility in our negotiations with the Soviet Union.
The proposals are fair, realistic, and would bring a much greater degree of stability for all the peoples of the world.
There's absolutely no doubt that the prospects for success in our negotiations have been significantly improved because of the political courage shown by the Congress.
The task now is to be patient and to sustain our resolve.
On this Fourth of July weekend, I salute those members of the Congress who are putting the interests of America first.
They're part of a long American tradition of proving democracy's critics wrong, of showing that we have the courage to stand up for what is right and what is necessary.
Our democratic experiment is alive and well at Year 207, and with the help of the kind of political leadership and vision that we've seen in recent weeks, we can count on many happy returns.
Till next week, God bless you and God bless America.
dave rubin
All right, you really can't say it much better than the Gipper, but from one former Democrat, Ronald Reagan, who eventually became a Republican president, to the kind of standard bearer of modern Democrats, old school Democrats, that is, let's go to John F. Kennedy.
unidentified
And so, my fellow Americans, Ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country.
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are.
But it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world.
The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it.
And one path we shall never choose And that is the path of surrender, or submission.
And do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.
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