Hat Tip to Jeff, who accidentally inspired me to write this.
As we remember the falling of the Berlin Wall, let us remember also what two former Presidents said.
“Today, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a Berliner).” JFK announced his (and our) solidarity with Berliners.
“There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the communist world. LET THEM COME TO BERLIN!” JFK clearly said those with communist values do not have values of freedom for the people.
We all know the “Tear down this wall!” demand. It will live for 100 years.
But here’s a couple other things Reagan said: “As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.” Very clearly, as the stark wall in Berlin showed, the difference between communism and freedom is visible to all who wish to see. One only needs to look at the sharp difference in affluence from one side of the wall to the other.
“[J]ust as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom.” Reagan railed at the comunist clamp on freedom of the press just as he railed against the oppression of farmers and businessmen in the communist regimes.
Today, we have a President who rails against the press that is giving him a black eye. Today, we have a congress that is doing its best to fetter farmers and businessmen with undue restraints. Today, we have executive-branch officials who espouse Mao (the communist murderer of 60 million of his own people). Today, we have a government that wants to take over one sixth of the free market after it already took over two of the big three automakers, much of the banking industry, etc, ad nauseum. Today, we have a President who air-mailed his “It’s all about me; electing a black man to President” speech to Germany for a celebration of the falling of the wall.
And for all you nut-jobs who even come close to trying to equate the Berlin Wall with our desires for a wall/fence on our southern border, do learn some history. The Berlin Wall was designed to keep East Berliners out of (completely surrounded) West Berlin. And it was built by Communist Germany and Communist USSR (who owned East Berlin). The wall was built by communists to keep their own people from escaping communism.
And for a bit of music to mark the occasion, we have some Scorpions, which I cannot embed.
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