Ronald Reagan in America by Heart, by Sarah Palin

On Foreign Policy: 1987: People surprised that Soviet Union HAS a constitution

"I've read the constitutions of a number of countries, including the Soviet Union's. Some are surprised to hear that they have a constitution, and it even supposedly grants a number of freedoms to its people. Many countries have written into their constitutions provisions for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Why is US Constitution so exceptional? The difference is so small that it almost escapes you, but it's also so great it tells you the whole story in just three words: We the people. In those other constitutions, the Government tells the people of those countries what they're allowed to do. In our Constitution, we the people tell the government what it can do, and it can do only those things listed in that document and no others. Virtually every other revolution in history has just exchanged one set of rules for another set of rules. Our revolution is the first to say the people are the masters & the government is their servant.

On Foreign Policy: US has no territorial ambitions despite military might

"In your letter you imply territorial ambitions of the US; that we have imperialistic designs and thus constitute a threat to your own security and that of the newly emerging nations. There not only is no evidence to support such a charge, there is solid evidence that the United States when it could have dominated the world with no risk to itself made no effort whatsoever to do so.

"When WWII ended, the US ha the only undamaged industrial power in the world. Its military might was at its peak--and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear bomb with the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination who could have opposed us? But the United States followed a more decent course--one unique in all the history of mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravaged economies of all the world including those nations who had been our enemies."

On Government Reform: 1982: Agreed with Indiana resolution against paternalism

• "We are fed up with subsidies, doles, and paternalism. We are no one's stepchild. We have grown up. We serve notice that we will resist Washington, DC adopting us.
• Be it resolved that we respectfully petition and urge Indiana's congressmen and senators to vote to fetch our county courthouse and city halls back from Pennsylvania Avenue. We want government to come home."

On Principles & Values: Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States when men were free."

On Principles & Values: 1980s: Soviet leaders openly repudiate religion

"Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution. Lenin, their guiding spirit, said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality tha proceeds from supernatural ideas--that's their name for religion--or ideas that are outside class conceptions...They must be made to understand we will never abandon our belief in God. Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in totalitarian darkness--pray they will discover the joy of knowing God."

What drove his critics crazy wasn't that Reagan pointed out the godlessness of the Soviet system, but that he pointed out the presence of God in ours.