Editing World War II (section)

== Speech Relevance ==
Reagan directly mentions World War II only one time in '[[Encroaching Control]]':
<BLOCKQUOTE>''But what is being proposed in Washington, well a farm program is being lobbied which says the only answer to the farm problem is to take the 80% of free agriculture into a program of government regimentation, requiring the licensing of every farm in the United States, requiring the government establishment of production quotas and prices. And then they frankly admit this will mean the employment of thousands and thousands of new employees in the agricultural department, a permanent government subsidy and the raising of food prices between 15 and 25%. And in order to do this, they admit they will also create, artificially, a shortage of foodstuffs to the point that meat alone will be in supply about equal to what we knew under [[rationing]] in World War II.''</BLOCKQUOTE>
World War II was such a massive undertaking for all involved that certain goods or materials couldn't be produced fast enough.  Rubber, nylon, steel, gas and certain kinds of food were deemed necessary for the war effort and, thus, rationed for civilians.  Reagan is saying that greater government intervention into agriculture would reduce output to the point that the people would feel like they were back in the 1940s.