RR dared to speak. RR dared to express thoughts & ideas in such a way that people listened and thought about them seriously. Thoughts that many people had thought - but which they feared to speak. There were many thoughts that the people had, some which they mulled over in isolation or discussed only in private - most of which they were reluctant to discuss in front of strangers. Wondering (just a wee, little bit) about the size of the Federal government, - the number of Federal Departments, - the number of laws on the books, - the acres of Federal real-estate and height of Federal buildings, - the percentage of the poulation that was on the Federal payroll, - the percentage of the poulation that was on the Federal dole, starting to, maybe, wonder why it was simply INEVITABLE that all of these things just had to keep growing larger and larger and larger (w/o bound). Wondering why the Federal government deserved more and more of the gross national product. Wondering why the American people seemed to need more and more regulations: - regulating their life, their health, their diet, - regulating their liberty, their livelihoods, their commerce, - regulating how they could define their own "happiness", - and regulating how they were allowed to pursue it. Thinking about, but maybe not saying out loud, that there is something a bit strange when a nation whose birth was embodied in rejecting the yoke of hereditary rulers, and vehemently discarding all forms of nobility and ruling classes, a government that was said to be "of the people" and "by the people", how a country founded upon the principles of equality under the law, separation of powers, rotation in office, participatory democracy, etc., etc., etc. somehow has evolved into a powerful central government, dominated by political families & dynasties, with voluminous laws written by legislatures largely populated by lawyers, legislators whose individual sinecures extend for decade after decade, legislators beholden to rich corporations, unions, and tax-exempt foundations, voting away our national treasure to fund an incessant stream of new "programs" that never die, but whose budget next year is based upon what they were given to spend last year - regardless of what they accomplished (by any sort of "bottom line" or cost/benefit analysis). And, where the rubber meets the road, a government operated by faceless bureacrats & uncivil "civil servants" (so-called)("servants"), most of whose qualifications are that they bought more tickets, attended more dinners, worked more storefronts, or raised more money than those who competed for their political appointments. Yet, that automatically qualifies them to rule their fiefdom, and to disdain the citizens forced to plead to them for succor. ("sucker"?) Since the depression era (and since the Federal Reserve system and other expansions of powere, which many now realize made it inevitable), the Federal government has seen fit to involve itself in a never-ending parade of new "initiatives" (and "investments") [and, I would say, "intrusions"] into areas of human activity never Some older citizens, who remembered "Civics" classes may have wondered how "elastic" the elastic clause really was, and whatever happened to the "chains" that were supposed to be in the Constitution. Younger citizens, more often, may have been a bit confused by the term "unconstitutional", (especially when courts used it to order MORE government) and a few of them wondered whether there was any limit to the powers that the Congress could give to itself. ----------------- Many of these thoughts, these unvoiced thoughts, these thoughts that awaited a communicator to voice them, were thoughts that dared to QUESTION authority. Aye, there's the rub! Thoughts that many people had thought - but which they feared to speak in public, and which rarely were published in the established media (except, perhaps, in an occasional letter to the editor, more often than not set up for scorn by the publication). WHY???? Because the ESTABLISHMENT had established certain norms and branded certain ideas as taboo or "POLITICALLY INCORRECT" (or some other contemporary pejorative, e.g. "selfish", or "insensitive", or "uncaring", or "insufficiently altruistic", "egotistical", etc.) Many people (not just the "silent majority") sorta thought that it was "common sense" - that people should keep most of what they earn - that government shouldn't spend tax money doing what people could do for themselves - that people didn't need a government to decide what they eat, what to pay, whether to smoke, +++ Many people, in isolation, had such "common sense", logical thoughts. Thoughts which may have seemed had brainwashed them into thinking these thoughts were Thoughts that were Yes, RR dared to express thoughts & ideas in such a way that people listened and allowed themselves to (re)consider them seriously. But these were not new thoughts - he did not invent them (any more than Jefferson, his), These were thoughts that many people had thought - but which they feared to speak. Common thoughts, often unspoken for fear of being viewed as "weird" or "out of touch" ... or somehow 'different" and not part of the accepted "social fabric". ------------------ In the 1960s & 1970s, many, many, many people avoided speaking their mind in public because they ... Intimidation ...