The Savage Republican

I watched the film footage on TV of a soldier running concertina wire across a street. I was twelve but didn't appreciate what was happening, but my Grandmother said, as she listened to the reporter "This sounds like war." What I was witnessing was the very beginning of what was to be called The Berlin Wall. The first explanation I heard for the wall was that it was constructed to constrain the West Berliners from diluting the socialism of East Berlin and East Germany. The truth has always been an obstacle that tyrants and tyrannies need to "explain".
As the years progressed there were stories of many spirited and interesting attempts to breach the wall to get into the West. Too many times the attempt proved fatal. There is one iconic photo that I've always remembered, that of an East German border guard who leapt the then concertina wire only wall-

In 1989, it was becoming apparent that the Eastern Bloc was failing in its attempt to keep its solidarity. One evening I heard a report that there were people, hundreds if not thousands of people, who were marching across the fields of Hungary toward the Iron Curtain. And the border guards were not stopping them.It was quite a report for a man who grew up hearing "When you see the flash, 'Duck-And Cover!' " Who grew up seeing the start of the Berlin Wall, watched my parents become very worried in October, 1962, saw the Prague Spring...

And then there was this evening:

There was an article about the creation and fall of the Berlin Wall on the History Channel. The amazing risks people took to be free: tunneling, hot air balloons, befriending border guards to learn how an armored car worked to be able to car jack it later and ram through the wall, using ultra light airplanes to rescue a brother...incredible.
All to escape to liberty.
I wonder what we here in America are willing to do to preserve liberty.
I came across this quote that is extremely timely and thought provoking, especially today during this time here in America:
" It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
So, what are you doing, what will you do to preserve and take back your liberty?
Time to let that hollow space in the Lazy Boy fill back in.

The Savage Republican

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Because I have no words...

Monday, November 09, 2009

A Sunday in Heron Lake, MN 1961