Freedom and Sovereignty
Divide among prominent conservatives on the issue of freedom and sovereignty:
Opponents:
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"We built it, we paid for it, its ours" - Reagan
"The Canal is not a natural resource of Panama that has been exploited by the United States... We have gone in for one purpose and one only ... to build and operate a canal...
...As long as we have the right of sovereignty, there is no question in international law about our right then to defend and protect the canal." - Reagan, Firing Line debate, Panama Canal, 13 Jan 1978
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Proponents:
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"In 1948, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a decision Vermilya-Brown Co. vs. Cornell, made the following reference; Admittedly, Panama is territory over which we do not have sovereignty...
Dulles said to the United Nations in 1946 - Panama is sovereign... But to say that we have sovereignty, as Governor Reagan has said, is to belie the intention of the people who supervised our diplomacy in the early part of the century" - William Buckley, Firing Line debate, Panama canal, 13 Jan 1978 |
"We are big enough to grant little people what we ourselves fought for 200 years ago." - William F. Buckley
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