Analysis of a Time of Choosing Speech - Paper Example

A time of choosing is considered to be one of the greatest speeches ever delivered in the United States. Fundamentally, it was televised during the Goldwater campaign in 1964 in support of his Ronald Reagans candidacy. Many believe that A time of Choosing was a sweeping speech that touched on various important issues that affected the United States at that time, and included Vietnam war, welfare, taxation and the over American budgeting government. Made directly to the Americans and in support of the Gold water, it emerges as the foundation of Reagans political career.

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As observed in the speech, Reagan went beyond the basic party line that the Democratic Party was running the United States. In this way, he mentioned at every fault in the partys plan and destroyed all the programs of the Great Society, which offered a tremendous revelation of the various inaccuracies in the planning and execution process of the existing initiatives. Nonetheless, he exposed Goldwater as an individual who can help anybody caught in trouble.

A closer look at the speech shows that Reagans portrayal of Goldwater is made to soften Goldwater image, and consequently help to eliminate any fear that the Americans had about the historical issues that time. The strong conservative stance as demonstrated by Goldwater mad him appear like an individual who would not hit bat any slightest provocation. However, Reagans speech depicts him as someone who will not only drop the bomb in any circumstance but someone who would not drop the bomb in the entire period of his leadership. In his speech, Reagan mentions Goldwater a couple of times and also incorporates several assertions that directly speak about him. Reagan uses this technique as a less tool that will make Goldwater elected, but a more way of stimulating Americans understandings of various Republican ideas and the wrongness on the part of the Democratic Party.

A comprehensive revelation of the Great Society and its ultimate exposure as badly run and resource-wasting organizations as they are further makes thing tough for Goldwater. Reagan does this by drawing many likenesses of the governments view to Marxism. He provides several examples of these with the peasant farmers who were losing their land, in addition to the story of a woman who divorces with the aim of receiving more welfare. As the audience, this effect emerges as a shock and consequently creates a feeling of general disgust based on the fact that the speech tremendously reveals several prevailing societal issues such as increased divorce rates, farmers bankruptcy and the increasing costs of basic items.

Despite its effective delivery and success in enhancing the Americans understanding of the issues that affect them, the speech failed to get Goldwater elected. This failure was based on the fact that the publics view of the Goldwater and the notion of Great Society were operating well. Despite its failure, the thematic issues raised by Reagan remained in the publics mind because it became highly evident that the great society had not succeeded in the same way the Final Frontier did fail.

In conclusion, the ideas and issues that Reagan was articulating were the same with those that Goldwater mentioned in his proposal. Goldwaters campaign slogan was A Choice not an Echo, and this emerged as a technique to starkly distinguish his conservative platform Johnsons ultra-liberal proposal. As noted, Reagans platform was also conservative, but his representation of Goldwater was tremendously different. Reagans belief and skills at selling it to voters made him the governor of California and finally the 40th president of the United States.