Jan. 20, 1981 Ronald Reagan the 40th President of The United States

30 Years ago today Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of The United States, gave his inauguration speech.  President Reagan was a man who did not believe that government had the answers.  He was a believer in the constitution and "of the people, by the people, and for the people."  He addressed this in his speech.

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price." 
 
For complete speech:  http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres61.html

Exercise Your Voice

"We live in a democracy, which functions best when there is free expression and exchange of ideas.  From free discussion and exchange, the best ideas or course of action will eventually be adopted." -Former Congressman, James T. Walsh, 25th Dist. New York.

On This Day In History

On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States approved 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification.  The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion, the right to fair legal procedure and to bear arms, and that powers not delegated to the federal government were reserved for the states and the people.

Incorporation of the Bill of Rights

The incorporation of the Bill of Rights (or incorporation for short) is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. Prior to the 1890's, the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal government. Under the incorporation doctrine, most provisions of the Bill of Rights now also apply to the state and local governments, by virtue of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Prior to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and the development of the incorporation doctrine, in 1833 the Supreme Court held in Barron v. Baltimore that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal, but not any state, government. Even years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment the Supreme Court in United States v. Cruikshank, still held that the First and Second Amendment did not apply to state governments. However, beginning in the 1890's, a series of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to "incorporate" most portions of the Bill of Rights, making these portions, for the first time, enforceable against the state governments. -Wikipedia, state rights