One June 12, 1987, 21 years ago today, Ronald Reagan spoke in front of a large crowd of cheering West Berliners. With the Berlin Wall as a backdrop, Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to live up to his promise to liberalize Soviet- bloc society and get serious about nuclear arms reduction negotiations.

However, Reagan was not just speaking to the Berliners in the crowd. He also spoke to their countrymen on the other side of the wall, and the millions of others behind the Iron Curtain living under the yoke of communist totalitarianism:

There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. Secretary General 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."

Two years later the wall was indeed torn down, but not by Gorbachev.

Here is the speech

Topics: Cold War , Ronald Reagan , Berlin Wall

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Congress' monument to self distorts the constitution

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“In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true." That is what Senator Harry Reid had to say about the grand opening of the new... Read More
Topics: Congress , New Deal , Constitution

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Topics: The New Deal , progressivism , Barack Obama

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Keith Olbermann and the uses and misuses of McCarthyism

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Anyone who watches Countdown with Keith Olbermann, (those who don’t end up throwing a brick at the television anyway) knows that the execrable Olbermann fancies himself a contemporary Edward R. Murrow. Olbermann uses the legendary newsman’s... Read More
Topics: Espionage , McCarthyism , Keith Olbermann

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The (not so) real life story that inspired The Exorcist

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If you grew up in the Hyattsville/Mt. Rainier suburbs of Washington, DC, All Hallows Eve consisted of more than just trick-or-treating. No Halloween night was complete without a trip to the “Exorcist Lot” on Bunker Hill Road in Mt. Rainier... Read More
Topics: The Exorcist

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The myth of Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression

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There is a lot of horse manure going around about how a lack of government regulation caused the current financial crisis, and that only massive government intervention into the markets is the answer to the problem. Historical... Read More
Topics: The New Deal , FDR , Great Depression , Herbert Hoover

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Why we fight

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.floatright { float:right}.floatleft { float:left}Insert photo caption or credit here On this seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 we rightly engage in acts of commemoration and remembrance, we mourn the fallen and... Read More
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History Made

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August 29, 8:39 AM

No matter your politics, Barack Obama made history last night accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. He is the first African-American to be nominated for president by a major political party in the United... Read More
Topics: Barack Obama

Mark Newgent

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"Tear Down this Wall"

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