Ronald Reagan got at least one big thing very right
Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall came down, an event that changed the world.
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev crossed a former fortified border on Monday to cheers of “Gorby! Gorby!” as a throng of grateful Germans recalled the night 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall gave way to their desire for freedom and unity.
Within moments of a confused announcement on Nov. 9, 1989, that East Germany was lifting travel restrictions, hundreds of people streamed into the enclave that was West Berlin, marking a pivotal moment in the collapse of communism in Europe.
Ms. Merkel, who grew up in East Germany and was one of thousands to cross that night, recalled that “before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered.”
She lauded Mr. Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union. “We always knew that something had to happen there so that more could change here,” she said.
I’ve often been critical of Ronald Reagan, and Reagan himself would probably be critical of the absurd caricature of himself created by the modern Republican Party. But the Gipper did get one big thing very right: The fall of communism was inevitable, because we were right and they were wrong about just about everything. Communist ideology, rigid and repressive, could not adjust itself gradually to changing times so it was doomed to adjust all at once, by collapsing.
Reagan also understood that the true source of American and Western strength was not our military power, but something far more abstract. As he explained it in a 1982 speech to the British House of Commons:
“Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used. For the ultimate determinant in the struggle that’s now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated.”
That remains true today, in a struggle of a very different sort against a very different kind of opponent.
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© 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
186 comments Add your comment
Matilda
November 9th, 2009
12:16 pm
Freiheit!
Turd Ferguson
November 9th, 2009
12:20 pm
Well…hmmmm…uh…Ronald Reagan got more than one thing right.
David Gergin
November 9th, 2009
12:22 pm
Wonder who wrote the speech?
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
12:23 pm
“Ronald Reagan got more than one thing right”
Reading comprehension is obviously NOT your strong point. What is it about “AT LEAST ONE” that you don’t understand?
bob
November 9th, 2009
12:27 pm
Now that we are speaking of Reagan, why is it that he gets the blame for defecits. Tip O’Neal claimed that reagans budgets were DOA every year he submitted them to congress. Then, he and George Mitchell would take credit for passing a budget, those budgets had defecits and many more dems voted on the budget than repubs did. It is also the job of congress to pass a budget. But twenty years later, dems still blame reagan.
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 9th, 2009
12:28 pm
I always thought the Berlin Wall would come down but I didn’t think I’d see it my lifetime. Now it’s been 20 years. When change comes it usually comes very fast. I do believe that while people around the world differ on political and economic beliefs, the one thing all humans have in common is a thirst for freedom.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
12:29 pm
“One thing,” hahahaha.
However, we must profusely apologize to radical Islam and the world for being, well, for being what we are.
Is that right too?
Turd Ferguson
November 9th, 2009
12:29 pm
LIKE I SAID. Ronald Reagan got more than one thing right.
Tip was named such as his belly was all the time about to “tip” him over.
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
12:30 pm
“LIKE I SAID”
SO DID JAY
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
12:34 pm
“the one thing all humans have in common is a thirst for freedom.”
I wish I could agree…but it’s much too obvious that a LOT of people only want security and are willing to give up freedom to get it.
Normal
November 9th, 2009
12:36 pm
Bob, whomever passed it doesn’t matter. The called it Reagonominics, thus the blame. Comes with the title, I guess…
Shananeeeeee Fananeeeeeee
November 9th, 2009
12:37 pm
I am glad Ronald Reagan doesn’t have to see our President and his radical cronies. “As President I will give a $3,000 tax credit to each existing buisness for each additional full-time employee hired.” – Barack Obama. “You lie.” – Joe Wilson.
Angry Black Man
November 9th, 2009
12:38 pm
Hillbilly
Read your comments from the other day. I imagine you got a good chuckle from the history lesson. I know I did.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 9th, 2009
12:39 pm
Well, you got to admit it. Bookman sure knows how to get us Conservatives to fall to our knees and chant Reagan, Reagan, Reagan! He was a Great President. It wasn’t his fault this memory disease hit him early and he couldn’t recall much about Iran Contra and who done what and a few things like that. I expect he spent the last couple years in the White House just trying to find out where they moved the restroom to.
Anyhow, Reagan brought us the greatest money thing anyone’s ever seen. Trickle Down. All the tax cuts were based on Trickle Down. Course, alot of us are still waiting for the Trickle and it would be here by now if a bunch of librul Democrats would quit getting in the way. As best I can figure, we get 5 cents more in taxes for every buck we cut taxes. You got to figure in 20 years or so we’ll break even.
And the best thing Reagan done was beat the Russians. We couldn’t do it with the army and bombs and stuff life that but we done it the way any Free Innerprize economy could understand. We out-spent them and they went bust before we did. Anyway, they’re gone and we’re still busted, but we won.
That’s my history lesson for all the librul Democrats out there. Have a good p.m. everybody.
Angry Black Man
November 9th, 2009
12:39 pm
Bob
So, using your thought process, Obama’s deficit is actually Reid’s deficit, right?
Jay
November 9th, 2009
12:46 pm
Bob, every budget passed by Congress in that era spent almost exactly the amount that Reagan had requested in submitting his budget.
Congress and Reagan had disputes about HOW that money should be spent, but the total amount of spending was effectively set by Reagan.
Those are facts.
getalife
November 9th, 2009
12:51 pm
Facts?
Come on Jay.
Their heads are exploding already.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”.
Now, Gorbechev is telling us to learn the lesson and get out of Afghanistan before we collapse like them.
md
November 9th, 2009
12:57 pm
“Bob, every budget passed by Congress in that era spent almost exactly the amount that Reagan had requested in submitting his budget.
Congress and Reagan had disputes about HOW that money should be spent, but the total amount of spending was effectively set by Reagan.”
Hmmm, so your saying it doesn’t matter how money is spent?
Those “facts” are dubious, as we have no idea what the outcome would be had reagan spent it all as he saw fit.
Nothing Is Free
November 9th, 2009
12:58 pm
Reagan and now Jay understands that weakness is an invitation.
It’s too bad that Obama hasn’t figured that out yet.
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
12:59 pm
“as we have no idea what the outcome would be had reagan spent it all as he saw fit.”
Let me see if I have this straight: if the money had been SPENT as Reagan wished, then all that money going out would NOT have contributed to the deficit?
mike
November 9th, 2009
12:59 pm
What? You mean a guys consistently voted among the top ten Presidents in polls of historians and citizens did one thing right? Even though he was a conservative?
Mighty big of Jay to say so. This was just the kind of endorsement that really impacts Reagan’s legacy.
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
1:00 pm
“did one thing right”
You obviously can’t comprehend what “AT LEAST one” means either.
mike
November 9th, 2009
1:00 pm
Doggone –
“Let me see if I have this straight: if the money had been SPENT as Reagan wished, then all that money going out would NOT have contributed to the deficit?”
Let me get this straight. You are opposed to deficit spending during recessions?
Tom
November 9th, 2009
1:02 pm
The Wall had little to do with actor RayGun – and everything to do with Gorbachev. My, how we do twist history and fact. The Little People in action once more.
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
1:04 pm
“You are opposed to deficit spending during recessions?”
I said that? I don’t think so. The point is: money spent is money spent. It doesn’t matter WHAT it is spent on, it STILL contributes to the deficit…because it WAS SPENT.
mike
November 9th, 2009
1:04 pm
“The Wall had little to do with actor RayGun – and everything to do with Gorbachev. ”
Wow, didn’t expect you to deny Reagan any credit. You are usually so even handed in your analysis
mike
November 9th, 2009
1:06 pm
Doggone –
Well, your thread was a criticism of said spending. So it is pretty reasonable to infer that you are opposed to said spending.
Are you?
I Report :-) You Whine :-( Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
1:09 pm
As the leaders of France, Britain and Germany commemorate the end of the Cold War and the rebirth of freedom throughout the Eastern Bloc, President Obama will be too busy chipping away the freedoms his own people enjoy to attend. -AmSpec
The democrats are partying in your pocket book.
Who needs freedom, mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
1:09 pm
“Well, your thread was a criticism of said spending”
You REALLY need to work on that reading comprehension problem. My post was a criticism of md saying “we have no idea what the outcome would be had reagan spent it all as he saw fit” – not of the spending itself. That’s why I originall quoted that same portion of the post. So people who can comprehend what they read would KNOW what I was commenting on. Get it?
md
November 9th, 2009
1:09 pm
“Let me see if I have this straight: if the money had been SPENT as Reagan wished, then all that money going out would NOT have contributed to the deficit?”
Not if it was spent as an investment.
Block #23 (Evidence for Alternation or Delay)
November 9th, 2009
1:09 pm
…………….. and SOCIALISM is just COMMUNISM in diapers.
Time to wake up folks.
mike
November 9th, 2009
1:10 pm
Doggone –
“You obviously can’t comprehend what “AT LEAST one” means either.”
Huh? You really think that there is any difference in the two? That the addition of those two words makes any impact on Jay’s comment or my response to it?
You frequently respond with these pedantic arguments that in addition to being a deflection from the conversation at hand, don’t even make any sense.
AmVet
November 9th, 2009
1:10 pm
Ronnie was like the equivalent of disco of American presidents.
A LOT of simpletons loved it, but people of substance, always laughed at them and that faddish tripe.
And Nixon was right when he said Ronnie got too much credit for Communism’s long coming death throes.
Numerous other factors were all more important…
Doggone/GA
November 9th, 2009
1:10 pm
“Not if it was spent as an investment.”
What investments did Reagan request that were not in the bills he signed?
mike
November 9th, 2009
1:11 pm
Doggone —
LOL. I love your over-reliance on the term “comprehend”, particularly when you are clearly not able to keep up with what is being said, even if you are the one saying it.
mike
November 9th, 2009
1:13 pm
“A LOT of simpletons loved it, but people of substance, always laughed at them and that faddish tripe.”
Yeah, “smart” people like AmVet know to always vote Democrat and bash Republican. Don’t have to waste all that time thinking for themselves.
Bosch
November 9th, 2009
1:13 pm
Congratulations Germans!!!
Well done!
Marsh
November 9th, 2009
1:13 pm
Did the Berlin Wall really fall 20 years ago? Or like London Bridge being moved to Lake Havasu, did the Wall just get relocated below the Mason-Dixon line?
@@
November 9th, 2009
1:17 pm
Well this is convenient, jay. I was reading an interview with a Polish dissident just last night. He holds Ronald Reagan in great esteem. Why?
Adam Michnik — “When there is a conflict between the United States and a wicked, barbaric, murderous totalitarian, then my duty as someone who has always called on the U.S. to act in defense of human rights is to side with the U.S.”
With the West struggling to come up with a response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Mr. Michnik cites Ronald Reagan’s approach to Poland as a useful model for President Obama. The day after martial law was imposed in 1981, the U.S. publicly sided with the Polish people against their regime.
He talks about the perils of seeking the perfect utopia which will inevitably lead to totalitarianism.
http://www.loccidentale.it/articolo/interview+with+adam+michnik:+from+solidarity+to+democracy:+.0081290
After having read your piece about Israel downstairs, it’s all too obvious that America’s liberals want to confine the freedoms they enjoy within our own borders. The typical freedom for WE, but not for THEE crowd!
There’s nothing solid in ‘em other than their waste.
Pathetic creatures, they are. They know nothing about oppression in its truest form. They may soon find out though. This administration is all about suppressing and oppressing. And yet, they cheer its every step. Honk like a goose if you love this administration.
They claim to be selfless when, in reality, they’re very selfish people.
N-GA
November 9th, 2009
1:21 pm
Block #23,
Socialism and communism cannot really be compared. One is an economic system and the other is a political/governing system. Kinda like capitalism and democracy….understand?
Jefferson
November 9th, 2009
1:21 pm
The original Neo-con.
AmVet
November 9th, 2009
1:22 pm
Well, idiot boy is wrong as always. But it’s gotta be very difficult to see much of anything as it mighty dark up there…
In spite of his thespian wall downing, the disco prez was essentially a total flop on foreign policy.
From South Africa to Nicaragua to the Philippines to Chile to Lebanon to Argentina to Iran to El Salvadore.
Millions of innocent lives ended and ruined around the planet because of the actor’s love for Joe McCarthy and disregard for the rule of law…
Joey
November 9th, 2009
1:23 pm
On Friday Jay pointed out another success of Reagan. His Administration struggled with rising unemployment from mid-1981 until late-1982. That is when the number of unemployed began a steady decline.
Jay used that post and the chart to belittle Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer is a Republican version of Bookman except that Krauthammer is syndicated and Krauthammer does a lot of TV. Gosh maybe Jay wishes he was a Democrat version of Krauthammer.
Anyway perhaps Jay should explain to President Obama what Reagan did in 1982 that put people back to work. If Obama implimented that program right away he might just get re-elected.
N-GA
November 9th, 2009
1:24 pm
@@,
So you’re saying that Reagan attacked the USSR to defend Poland? I guess not.
Or are you saying that the Palestinians don’t have the right to freedom (from oppression, from death, from economic hardship….pick one!)
getalife
November 9th, 2009
1:25 pm
Leave it to Andy to turn a good thing into an attack on the President.
Perhaps you should take a break from reading RW attacks and enjoy this moment in history.
@@,
I like these new con arguments for freedom.
Do you remember when w was stealing freedom and we raged against it?
And you didn’t, you supported it?
A little late to be for freedom, don’t ya think?
Nothing Is Free
November 9th, 2009
1:26 pm
AmVet
**A LOT of simpletons loved it**
What discos were you going to? It was the head bangers that were the simpletons. Classy beautiful women in really sexy outfits as opposed to VD infested hangbanger chicks. Most men couldn’t make the grade to compete in a disco, so most men hate disco.
While once again, the media loves to teach against disco, but the really smart people were all in, while the losers were spiking their hair and banging their heads. .
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
1:29 pm
ABM, NORMAL–elsewhere
Mob of Dolphins
November 9th, 2009
1:31 pm
Thats correct. As long as the palestinians behave in their current manner they have no right to freedom.
We are coming for them also, and you, AND YOU…and yes…YOU!
BBBUUUWWWAAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Nothing Is Free
November 9th, 2009
1:31 pm
getaclue
So exactly how was W “stealing freedom”? Wiretapping our enemies?
Let’s bring that back and give all these people jobs, how about it?
it’s easy to complain about the imagined freedoms of our enemies until we don’t even have the freedom for most Americans to plan for their future. What kinds of freedoms do we have now? Freedoms to be jailed for not buying into the latest government takeover?
The word “Clueless” has never been more appropriate.
Normal
November 9th, 2009
1:33 pm
Mike, answered your 12:47 downstairs…sorry I was late.