STOCKMAN: 25 years after the Wall fell, we must continue Reagan’s fight for freedom
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Stockman released the following statement Monday:
Twenty five years ago this week, the world celebrated as the great symbol of the Cold War and Communist tyranny fell. In a single day, people rejoiced and crossed the Wall at will, and the opening was irreversible. Freedom won, and today the Berlin Wall is but a thin line in the pavement.
President Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa and Margaret Thatcher all played major roles in bringing an end to Communist tyranny, as well as many brave dissidents throughout the Soviet empire who at great risk kept lit the torch of freedom and the hopes of millions.
Many remember President Reagan’s famous speech at the Wall; “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” While his challenge was directed towards the Soviet leader, his real audience was the enslaved people of East Germany, who drew inspiration and support from the speech and began to seek greater freedom.
But behind the speech was an entire strategy aimed at peacefully ending the Soviet empire and bringing freedom to millions; described in the words of Reagan as "here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."
This week we join in celebrating two and a half decades of freedom in Berlin and Eastern Europe. Until that time, Communism seemed invulnerable and permanent, and few could imagine the Soviet empire would one day near-bloodlessly collapse and the Berlin Wall would fall both symbolically and literally. How was joyous that day in 1989, as were the remembrances on this, the twenty fifth anniversary.
The battle between freedom and tyranny continues today. The citizens of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and many other nations yearn to be free; and under Putin, Ukraine is being invaded and other independent nations are being threatened.
President Reagan’s policy of peace through strength succeeded in freeing millions, but under President Obama and his appeasement-based policies, the forces of tyranny are again on the rise.
There are serious lessons to be learned from how our government changed the course of history by supporting or ignoring freedom movements. President Eisenhower betrayed the brave people in Hungary in 1956, and President Johnson similarly betrayed the people of Czechoslovakia in 1968, as the people of those nations formed free governments and dreamed of a life without Communism; only to have their hopes crushed when the United States signaled it was alright to let the tanks of tyranny roll. Let not that history repeat; never again should millions be oppressed when we could have with just a stern glare at tyranny and a loud welcome to freedom held at bay the Soviet empire.
But history did repeat. In 2009, President Obama turned his back on the millions of Iranians who stood their ground for freedom, and today we are faced with a nuclear Iran. That would not have been possible had the freedom movement received strong support from the President.
It cannot be said often enough that the Soviet empire ended in large part because President Reagan had a real strategy to defeat Communism and actively supported freedom, most noticeably in that stirring cry to “tear down this wall!” He never turned his back on freedom, and President Bush continued his policies long enough to see the conclusion of Reagan’s dream.
On this historic anniversary, let us recommit our great nation to return to President Reagan’s example of peace through strength, and create effective strategies to support, and yes, truly deliver freedom in Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and other enslaved countries around the world.