Tear Down This Wall

On June 12, 1987 President Reagan stood in front of a crowd of West Berliners in the shadow of the Berlin Wall... and defiantly called to the Soviet Union to withdraw its unjust influence over East Germany.

"Mr Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL! "

The crowd erupted in wild applause as did the rest of the world.  What was not known at the time was that the State Department and others on Reagan's staff were extremely vocal in opposition to using such a strong statement.  They insisted that he soften his rhetoric.  He simply said "no."  We needed to stand up to the bullies in our own government and in the eastern block and let the world know that our principles were not going to be masked in political correctness.

Soon, the wall fell of it's own injustice as did the Soviet Union and the power it held over most of eastern Europe.   16 years later, a unified Germany thrives and most of the former Soviet Block countries are seeing prosperity they have not known since before World War II.

What got us there is leadership.  Mr. Reagan understood that the role of the US in the world was not just wielding military power, but by putting on display the principles we stood for and a willingness to fight for it - and to stand up for those principles for everyone in the world, not just our own citizens.  We needed to hold the lamp high and be that "shining city on the hill" and let the world know that there was hope, that we would be there for them, that we would not shrink to the bullies.

What we have now is something quite different, quite inferior.  What we have now is more in tune with what Mr. Gorbachev had... narcissism, self service, politics, graft, greed, bullying, arm twisting.  We do not lad by example, we do not lead on principal, we do not lead on the pure power of what is right.  The city on the hill has turned a bit dingy and the lamp we hold is neither high nor brightly lit. My God, what I would not give for leadership like we had in 1987!