The Wall: Lessons Lost
On November 9, 1989, after weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations, the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic announced that its citizens would be free to visit West Berlin.
After nearly three decades of forcing millions of East Germans to live behind a concrete wall (which was originally conceived by Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev), Germans were finally free to come and go as they pleased.
Weeks later, the wall itself was torn down, as had been requested two years earlier of Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev by U.S President Ronald Reagan.
“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace,” Reagan famously said in a 1987 speech in front of the wall. “There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
The wall was created to stop freedom – specifically the free flow of human traffic from communist East Germany to capitalist West Germany, which was undergoing a post-war Wirtschaftswunder (or “economic miracle”). Indeed, from the end of World War II through 1961, more than 3.5 million East Germans fled to the West – a migration the wall reduced to a trickle.
The wall stood for twenty-eight years, with both its erection and its crumbling serving as enduring reminders of the fundamental value of freedom and the fundamental wisdom of free markets.
Which begs the question … when in the hell did we decide to forget these lessons here in America? And when did we decide that the ideology of the “other side” of that wall was something we wanted to implement here in the heart of America, which more than any other nation was responsibly for tearing that wall down?
And how did it happen so fast, too?
Seriously, people. Our nation was conceived in the basic principles of freedom and free markets, and in the intervening 240 years we’ve sent millions of our boys (and more recently, girls) all over the world to protect those principles – both for us and for others.
Why are we giving them up now?
Incidentally, Irish rock band U2 played a free concert at the wall to mark the anniversary – selecting the power ballad “One” as their opener.
Here’s our favorite live version of that song, recorded at Ireland’s Slane Castle back in 2001 …
Note the line “have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head …”
Kinda fitting for the current crop of leaders, isn’t it?
Anyway, for those of you who are convinced that America’s current path is the correct one, here are a few photographic reminders that might dissuade you …
Comments
By Ynot on November 6th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
tip o the hat Sic. thanks for reminding people that every single citizen is supposed to count
By Liberaltarian on November 6th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Seeing as you are against “walls” and a true free market would include not just the free movement of capital and materials across borders but the free movement of labor as well, is FITS officially endorsing open immigration from Mexico and amnesty for those already here? You can’t just pick and choose what you like about free markets like the RINOs can you?
By Oldman on November 6th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
While you are teaching your lessons perhaps you should address the connection between the Marshall Plan and the economic miracle that took place in West Germany. I suspect that, had you been blogging in 1947, you would have opposed the Marshall Plan as inappropriate government spending.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_plan
By James the Foot Soldier on November 6th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Interesting (in a weird way) how the liberals in the bed-wetter party are in a tizzy over this artilce. More so why they subject their fragile psyche to conservatism and libertarianism – a secret yearning Freud would undoubtedly have a great chuckle over.
Liberals: get fresh diapers ready if you dare watch the GREATEST speech ever given at the Brandenburg Gate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK30k2WTxY0&feature=related
By OnNoNotAgain on November 6th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Yeah. And let’s not be absolutely clear so we can cling to our idealized vision of conservative history.
Wall came down under George H.W. Bush.
And he was reaching to the guy in Moscow who was reaching out to the West. Mikhail Gorbachev.
But cool tune.
By Jeff Duncan on November 6th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Great post, Will….20 years ago this weekend – there are some great YouTube videos of the night that the wall was opened….Thanks.
By lilly on November 6th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Odd that Obama would insult Chancellor Merkel and refuse the invitation to commemorate the Berlin Wall’s destruction.
I suppose Obama just can’t take credit for it, so it’s not worth his time.
After all, he’s already won his “Nobel” PP.
Maybe, he just doesn’t want to offend Putin.
Or Georgie Soros.
By Reginald on November 7th, 2009 at 8:29 am
So, we can take it that you’re opposed to the “Mexicans Keep Out” wall the US is spending $billions on? Or are you referring to warranless wire taps, data mining of phone records, illegal rendition, suspension of habeus corpus and torture interrogations? Those are the actions that serioulsy impacted freedom in this country and they were not initiated on the current President’s watch.
By myles keogh on November 7th, 2009 at 10:44 am
LOL…I am as big a fan of old U2 (not the garbage they have done in the last 18 years) as anyone but to link one verse from One to the fall of the wall is a stretch. Especially if you consider that if people had listened to political idiots like U2 instead of Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II in the 1980’s that damn wall would still be standing. U2 hated Reagan. The song Pride (In the Name of Love) off the Unforgettable Fire was originally conceived as an anti Reagan song. U2 viewed the US military build up in the 1980’s as Reagan’s military arrogance. As the song progressed and the lyrics changed it evolved into a song about MLK.
By memee on November 7th, 2009 at 10:57 am
regggie
most americans don’t speak spanish– it’s been nearly 200 years since the spanish american war–your analogy doesn’t hold water
By FITSNews on November 7th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Myles-
We took a lyric from the song a juxtaposed it and based off of that you think we’re saying U2 took down the wall?
Please.
And if you think recent U2 is garbage, you obviously haven’t been to the 360 show.
-FITS
By No Way! on November 7th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
First, I am not surprised that boy wonder Obama decided not to go to German for this remembrance. He will be there when they rebuild the wall. His support of communism and socialist is not in the tearing down of the wall, it was in the building of the wall. The guy is a disgrace to America and the history of this country and freedom!
By myles keogh on November 7th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
By FITSNews on November 7th, 2009 at 11:26 am
And if you think recent U2 is garbage, you obviously haven’t been to the 360 show.
…and you obviously are not old enough to have seen U2 back in the early to mid 80’s when they were worth seeing and listening to. Sorry big stage claws, phoney visual displays and lighting are smoke and mirrors designed to do one thing and one thing only – cover up bad music.
By South Carolina Graduate on November 9th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Interesting commentary here. The Germans tore down their wall while the US is building up their very own wall. Is it to keep the Mexicans out or is it to keep the Americans in later as conditions worsen? Freedom in the East but the loss of it in the West. Warrantless wiretaps and extraordinary renditions are against the very freedoms the US is supposed to stand for. Due process of law used to be important, in theory, anyway. You can thank NAFTA for much of the illegal immigration from Mexico. US farmers’ corn shipped down to the Mexicans has put a lot of farmers and farmworkers out of work. Problems with illegal immigration increased due to these cheap-labor treaties. Tear down that wall and tear up the free-trade treaties.
…The Spanish-American War was fought in 1898. That calculates to about 109 years ago, according to the Carolina math that was taught at the time I was in school about a hundred years ago.