WEBVTT

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(tape fast forwarding)

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("Another Version of
You" by Chris Zabriskie)

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- Do you think materialism is the source

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of our strength and
greatness as a country?

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- Sure, because it's
the kind of materialism

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that is based on individuals
wanting better things,

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more comfort,

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and there being people
with ideas who are free

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to say, "Hey, I'll bet the
people would like this.

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"I'm going to make it."

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Just recently I saw an example of one.

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Now, you know, if you
open a can of soft drink,

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hold it in your hand,

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it gets warm very fast
while you're drinking it.

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There's a fella that has invented
an aluminum stein handle.

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You're serving people
cold drinks in the can,

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you just clamp that handle onto it,

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and people hold it by the handle

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and the drink doesn't warm up.

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And he's going to make a million dollars.

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- [Moyers] Tell me something
about your mother and father.

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- [Reagan] He was a shoe salesman,

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he was a Democrat, he was Irish.

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It was a divided family.

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My father was Catholic,
my mother was Protestant,

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and while we were poor,

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I don't think we were
really conscious of it

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because the government didn't
come around and tell you

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you were poor like they do today.

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- [Moyers] This is when
you were in Illinois?

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- Yes.

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We lived in a small town.

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It was from payday to payday with us,

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and I can remember one dish
that I thought was delicious

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and it was only later that
I realized why we had it.

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Have you ever heard of oatmeal meat?

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- [Moyers] No.

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- [Reagan] Well you make oatmeal,

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and you mix ground meat with it.

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Then you make a gravy just out of that,

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and then you serve that in
a big pancake-like thing.

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Well, that was because we couldn't afford

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to have that pancake made of all meat.

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("Wild Ones" by Jahzzar)

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- [Moyers] When you first came to Hollywood,

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as I am told, you were
a fairly liberal fellow,

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almost a one-world liberal.

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- [Reagan] Well, I was
a New Deal Democrat.

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Yes, had grown up that way.

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My first vote was cast for
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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the first time he ran.

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Differing from today,
in the Great Depression

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there was a warmth among people,

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there was a desire to help each other.

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Status symbols did not exist.

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I went to school and
worked my way through,

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a small school in Illinois.

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First job was waiting tables,

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second job was one of the
better jobs I've ever had,

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washing dishes in the girls' dormitory.

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But...

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(Moyers laughs)

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Now, granted, at that time
I thought all of the efforts

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by the government to resolve the problems

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of the Great Depression were,
you know, the way to go.

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I look back now and realize
they didn't help at all.

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They didn't cure the Depression.

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In many ways they set it back.

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It's tragic, but the
cure of the Depression

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was a very high price, World War II.

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But I have often thought the party changed

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much more than I did.

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How many people remember that in 1932

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
ran on a program,

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the Democratic platform,

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of cutting federal spending by 25%,

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eliminating useless bureaus and agencies,

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returning to states and
local governments authorities

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and autonomy that he said
had unjustly been seized

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by the federal government?

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Now, there's only one
party today in America

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that I know that would be
happy with that platform,

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and it's the party
(chuckles) I now belong to.

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("Chunk of Lawn" by Jahzzar)

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- [Moyers] You still think
business is the goose

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that laid the golden egg?

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- [Reagan] You have to believe that.

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For the first time in man's history,

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we unleashed the individual
genius of every man

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to climb as high and as far

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as his own strength and
ability will take him.

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We live in the future
in America, always have.

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And the better days are yet to come.

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- [Moyers] Do you think those better days

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mean more consumption of goods?

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More consumption of things?

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- [Reagan] Certainly,
and a wider distribution

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of the ability to consume those things.

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That's the dream of America.

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The problem isn't being poor,

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the problem, the answer
is to get over being poor.

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And people want more and want better,

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and they--

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- [Moyers] How do you think
people get over being poor?

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- By this, well, (chuckles)

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by this same way,

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of the ability and the freedom
to rise as far as you can.

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- [Moyers] But what about the people--

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- [Reagan] How did I get over being poor?

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I got a job as a sports announcer

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and it led to everything else.

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- There's going to be a
stampede to the radio stations

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right away, I'm sure.
(laughing)

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("Another Version of
You" by Chris Zabriskie)

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- [Moyers] Somebody described Reagan country

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as "a land of well-kept lawns
and chambers of commerce,

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"dull and square, a
nice place to raise kids

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"and have a barbecue."

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Do you think Reagan country,
that part of America,

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can see and understand the
America of dirty streets,

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crime, and poor people?

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- [Reagan] Yeah, because
most of them came from there.

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I have said that maybe
the difference between

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some of those people and myself is,

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and people like myself is
that they can have compassion

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for someone who's needy.

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Oh yes, let's have a government
program to help that person.

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We all have compassion for
those people and the needy.

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But I also have compassion

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for those families out there in America

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today where the husband
and wife is both working,

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not because she wants to have a career,

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but because if they're
gonna pay the mortgage

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on the house in this
inflationary age she has to.

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If they're gonna send
the kids on to school

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they both have to work.

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50% of the wives now working,

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and all they ask of
freedom is freedom itself,

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and they're getting worse
off, not better off,

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and I think that there ought
to be enough compassion

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for these people that are
making this system of ours work.

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They're the backbone of America

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and who the devil is
passing programs for them?

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(tape fast forwarding)