AoSHQ (and Sarah Palin) reminds me of this:
Not the event itself: but the details behind it. It’s a little jarring to realize that there are people who can vote (and soon, drink legally) in this country who don’t have personal memories of the Berlin Wall; or what it represented. I was seventeen when this speech took place; and like the AoSHQ writer I considered Ronnie Raygun to be a fool. Because, you know, maybe the Commies weren’t as powerful as we thought in 1980, but they weren’t going anywhere. Right?
Yeah, seventeen and stupid.
Peter Beinart just put together an article intended to kick at, well, pretty much mainstream America’s deep respect and affection for Ronald Reagan. It was a futile effort, and I’ll tell you why: the people who lived through that time period will have none of it. In 1981 we were wondering if we would survive, in any form, in a future Communist-friendly world: in 1989 we were wondering when the demon-beast of Soviet Communism would ever stop screaming under our knives and just die already. And by the time that we’re all dead of old age, it’ll be too late for the Left anyway to rewrite history.
Watch the whole thing.
Moe Lane
Soon? I’m 23, Moe, and have been able legally both to vote and drink for a couple years now, and I have no personal memories of the Berlin Wall. I was born in 1986, and the first geopolitical event I remember is Operation Desert Shield, when I was five (and probably just because my dad was deployed for that). It’s happened already.
Do you notice that there is no Presidential seal on the podium?
And Mike. That’s nice, but what’s your point?
We understand you’re too young to understand at a visceral level what it was like living in the Cold War . Please watch the video and try to think you are about 15 years older than you are. Then watch it again. You might get a clue.
I’m a little older. I remember Ronald Reagan well and I admire and honor his memory. I served in the military so I can remember the cold war and its effects on those who grew up under the threat of nuclear war. I was in the midst of rearing my children when Carter was unfortunately placed in the White House, significantly assisted by the misbehavior of elected republicans of that time. When the communist military threat, led by the USSR, collapsed under pressure from the Reagan administration, I felt really good that we had finally achieved some success.
We seem to have lost our vigilance when the threat is domestic enemies. Most of the communist lefties seem to have migrated to join and even take over the environmentalists and now constitute, operating within the Obama administration and the Congress, a grave threat to our way of life as guaranteed by our Constitution. Just as President Reagan said tear down the Berlin Wall, we must now remove the barriers to our continued existence as free individuals. This effort might be even more difficult than prevailing in the cold war since our modern populace is so ill-informed and lacks much interest in the issues affecting their individual liberty.