Saturday Open Thread: Reunification Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1990, West and East Germany agreed to a plan to reunite as one country. It marked the definitive end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, the West went on to squander the victory.
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72 Comments
Don't expect a loud celebration from the progressive MSM on this banner day for liberty. I remember this like it was yesterday, it took East Germany nearly a decade to even begin to catch West Germany economically. The infrastructure and the work ethic had been so badly damaged by two generations of socialism…
And 20 years later the USA is going from an economic Mercedes-Benz into a Trabant.
Like the last scene in the Exorcist, the socialist demon has leapt into into the body of the one that cast it out.
During a business trip to Germany not long after reunification, I was traveling with a long time friend from the west. He pointed out which drivers on the autobahn were from the "east"… they drove like maniacs at near out of control speed. He theorized that someone having driven only a Trabant which would vibrate violently, etc., when it reached 80 or 100 kph, had no idea how fast they were going in a BMW, Mercedes or even an Opel because they drove by feel rather than believing the speedometer.
The DDR lasted for over 40 years. Many people inside the DDR had no idea what it was like to live free, but still risked their lives to escape. Many died trying to escape, but that still did not deter others from trying. It was possible to leave the country legally, but it took years and you were guaranteed to be watched and harrassed by the Stasi. Some were imprisoned after applying to leave.
It is basic human nature to want to live without being told how to think, and to have your government control practically everything from what clothes are produced to what movies are watched.
I watched a movie about life after reunification, and not everyone was happy. One was an academic who lost his job and his prestige after reunification.
Thomas Sowell –
“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it”
“Most people who read "The Communist Manifesto" probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of "the workers".
God Bless Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Vlaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, Pope John Paul II and all Freedom Fighters everywhere…
The Great Battle continues…Aun Sung Kyi in Burma, the Chinese and Cuban political prisoners, the Green Movement in Iran…
Glenn Beck had possibly the greatest journalist in my lifetime on his show yesterday Andrew Brietbart. He announced there will be yet another Big. This one is going to shock the Academic and Journalistic worlds. Big Academia I think is what it is called.
I have watched for years as our kids have been shortchanged in their educations in our schools and universities. This may prove to be your most important creation yet Andrew, great job.
"Unfortunately, the West went on to squander the victory."
Ah yes, another squandered victory. Not only did we squander that victory, we squandered forty years of wealth and focus prior to, and another 20 years after the fact. How soon we are lulled to sleep, through complacency. Distracted by creature comforts, and wealth. Now our creature comforts are made in China, and our wealth is gone, to pay for foreign goods, foreign oil, and foreign debt.
From the Great Ronald Reagan, how far, and how quickly we have fallen. Reagan was the last visionary, who glimpsed the "shining city on the hill". We have had to endure both bumbling Bush's, Clinton, and now this infomnia of a man Obama.
Reagan must be rolling over in his grave.
Thomas Sowell a great man, funny that quote just about applies to the Obama administration…
West German spies loved to listen to the jokes told by the East Germans –
The teacher asks: "Fritzchen, what is the difference between capitalism and socialism?" Fritz replies: "Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Under socialism, it is the other way around."
"What would happen if the desert became communist? Nothing for a while, and then there would be a sand shortage."
"Why does West Germany have a higher standard of living than we do? Because communists can't get work permits there."
"Why can't you get any pins in East Germany anymore? Because they are being sold to Poland as kebab skewers."
After helping create America, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman, what "they" had given to the people. His answer: " A Republic, Madame, if you can keep it".
It has survived communism by a few years. Only time will tell how much longer it will exist. It won't much longer, if we are not vigilant, and continue to nutrure it.
The teacher asks in school: "What is the most important thing in socialism?" The students consider and little Fritz (Fritzchen) answers: "The most important thing in socialism is the human!" The teacher: "That is a good answer, Fritzchen. I will give you a B-grade." Fritzchen is dissatisfied and responds emphatically: "Would you maybe give me an A if I told you what the human's name was?"
Telling a political joke was risky because of the Stasi, and that spawned another joke – "There are people who tell jokes. There are people who collect jokes and tell jokes. And there are people who collect people who tell jokes."
Here’s a link to more DDR jokes, they are both funny and horrifying – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_German_jokes
I agree with you, that Andrew Breitbart will go down in history as a great journalist. Personally, I don't have an appropriate name that is befitting Breitbart, but "Journalist" does not do him justice. Further, to put him in the same category now as Cronkite, Rather, Couric and the rest of the pencil necked geeked weasels is demeaning to Breitbart.
Actually no other Government has lasted more than a quarter of the existence of our Republic without rebooting.
I remember back about the mid 90's or so driving into the former east and the roads got noticebly worse znd the houses lacked color, etc. My wife's uncle was just able to get some supplies such as paint and wood to fix up their house. For posterity's sake I photographed a Trabant smoke and all.
True that…
Man, you sure nailed it exactly! From a Mercedes-Benz, to a friggen Trabant, all in 20 years. Detroit couldn't have done it any quicker. Oh wait, Obama is running GM, I forgot. I can't wait to see his new Flintstone-mobile.
I wonder is Austria will ever rejoin with Germany. Or would that just make people too nervous?
Yes, and if you read any Masonic doctrine, they maintain that 200years is stretching the limit for ours.
yes I have…
if we're speculating, why not the Austro-Hungarian Empire reconstituting?
I visited East Berlin in the mid 80's. You don't forget meeting people who would be shot doing what you as a visitor are free to do at anytime. Leave.
I was on the Border the day it fell…2nd ACR….Border Patrol….The young lefties in the US have no idea how bad it was in the eastern block and the left in this country think that they can do it again just better this time.Just remember one thing THE ELITE had dachas the rest suffered but hey the elite here think we are the stupid masses ..so they are up to the same thing.The left thinks because they went to Harvard or some other liberal think tank that they are more enlightened than those of use that went to just a "low class" university .get out the pitch forks and run them out of town.
Yes, when they unite under an Euro-Islamic caliphate.
I remember feeling happy for all those people that were freed in East Germany. I hope the East Germans will feel equally happy for us in November.
P.S. All of my typos are GW's fault
If we are going that far, why not re-unite Iran and Iraq into the Ottoman Empire?
Exactly.
It leaves a lasting impression!
The more things change, the more they remain the same. The dachas are in Manhattan, and the Hamptons; DC and Alexandria, VA.
I too was there during those times. They were interesting times. The KGB took off their old uniforms, put them in storage and put on double breasted Armani suits. They are still there, still alive and well, just a bit older, and 20 years more experienced.
Reuniting Austria with Germany is not the same as all the other historic empires. If not for the Austro-Hungarian empire, Austria probably would have been part of Germany when the German speaking areas first formed Germany.
And no I am not a Hitler lover dreaming of the fourth reich.
Why not the Holy Roman Empire? Reunite France and Germany, ha ha
God Bless President Ronald Reagan! We miss you! A great leader and lover of the United States of America!
Hey, remember when the Earth was one large land mass…
Pangea!!
Well, we might as go all in and go for broke. Give America back to the Red Man, and all the Anglo's can all go jump in the Atlantic Ocean. I don't know what the African-Americans and the Mexicans will think of that idea……….
The wall coming down was one of those moments in life one never forgets. I would have never dreamed it happening in my lifetime…and yet I never dreamed I would see the socialism that has crept into our country as it has. We have our work cut out for us for the rest of our lives no matter how this all pans out. I just hope liberty will prevail through whatever path we are on and that it all goes down without civil war.
"Unfortunately, the West went on to squander the victory."
The only reason Europe has been able to undertake their EUtopia socialism experiment is because the US military has enabled it – they don't have to spend Richard Swinging Johnson on defense – but their economies are still about to crash. Why? Because under socialism you always eventually run out of other people's money to redistribute. Why? Because the work ethic is always eroded as people realize that working harder will only result in having a higher percentage of their income confiscated.
Socialism will always fail because it relies on calculations that leave out the dimension of human nature: To have a functioning economy, you have to allow people the opportunity to succeed spectacularly, and yes, also the opportunity to fail miserably.
All men are not created equal. People are gifted with different talents. Figure it the frak out.
"Workers of the World unite – you have nothing to lose but your brains!" That's Obama's new credo. How's that working? Here in Arizona I don't care too much about the proposed wall between us and Mexico – I think we need a wall between us and California! The illegals are a lot easier to deal with than the commies fleeing the golden state.
Everyone forgets, when the Wall fell, WE fed them. WE kept them alive, one more time………
WoW. Thats a scary thought. Maybe Sheriff Joe Arpaio can detain them, and send them south……..
I agree the left thinks of some utopia where even the worst will have the same..Some people just will not work or try to better themselves..Some people are just fine with a low standard of living if they can spend other peoples money…I mean hey sit home smoke a joint play XBOX all day and wait for the check…
No thanks, I've eaten already….
Not only are they still there, they are in with Barry's czars.
The red man is basicly extinct. I don't think there are very many surviving pure bloods, and many that do claim ancestory are majority non-red man geneticaly.
I miss Reagan's shrewd sense of humor, when Patty Hearst was kidnapped/hostage, the SLA demanded like a million dollars in food to "the poor" for ransom, when old Randolph paid it off, all these moochers were waiting in line for their "free food", somebody asked Governor Reagan what the thought about it and he said something to the effect of " well, I hope they all get food poisoning".
It ain't the commies fleeing the State, they are all in Sacramento and regions there about.
I think 'Tea Party' would be a very unfortunate label for a nascent national UK movement (because of history…this is only for those those who are historically ignorant). As for the rest of the EU, I think most of the real hope actually comes from Eastern Europe…they have personally experienced what Communism does to them. I think there is some hope for the EU. They have sunk into the Progressive hole MUCH farther that we have and would have to climb out much farther as a result. I have a feeling, however, that the EU will resolve this impending problem in their traditional way…WW III, WW IV, WW V….it depends how you count these things. I truly hope I'm wrong!
As a dependent of a State Department employee in the 70's, I had the chance to travel into East Berlin, entering through Checkpoint Charlie. The contrast between the free West and the communist East could not have been more stark. It was as if we left the world of color and entered into black and white. Glaring East German guards with submachine guns, tank traps, no-mans land, the people of East Germany walked with heads down, no smiles, no eye contact. It was a valuable experience and has influenced me to this day. Just a few hours in the communist East as a teen was enough to convince me of the evilness of the system that existed there. How have we forgotten that?
My father was a Foreign Service Officer stationed in Amsterdam between 1960 and 1962. We went as a family and watched the Berlin Wall construction in 1961. I was 6 years old at the time and still remember… I loathe progressives and Marxists to this day!
There's not many surviving "pure bloods" of any kind – red, white, black, brown, yellow.
The Japanese claim to be the last 'pure race' but my Irish-German-Italian friend just married a little doll from Yokohama, so you can see where the future is trending…
Ahhh,.. if only Kennedy would have said…..when he was in Berlin….
Nickey!… Tear down this wall!
All those Tax dollars wasted….why didn't they realize the inevitable….?
Some activites are expensive to perform…
Like take skydiving… it sure looks like fun… but probably expensive.
You go ahead there Fritz, Hans, jiovoni and Marcel… take the plunge
And don't fret the cost…
Normandy Beach,,, been there, done that…..can di it again.
Gotta keep that spending up!!! Biggest disaster in modern history…the U.S. kept up its Cold War spending, regardless of the fact that the nemisis fell–don't offer help or our own (re)concilliation with our possible (Soviet)Russian friends , just keep building up. Paranoia and greed, American as apple pie and Chinese plastic.
Sort of like a human El Nino moving in a clockwise direction. That's a funny picture. The illegals move up from Mexico into Southern California, turn into commies, wreck the economy there, head for Arizona where Sheriff Joe arrests them and sends them back to Mexico to start the process all over again.
Amen to all you posted!! We can no longer be complacent….You outlined it
well where we ended up by being fast asleep….good post Cowboy!!
Exactly.
The proper rotation of a sewer, unless you are in the Southern tropics.
This could work!
INVENTOR GOES MEDIEVAL ON SPENDTHRIFT POLITICIANS
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/inven...
My most favorite memory of the Wall.
I was living in Berlin-West in 1975-76 and teaching at a private German school. One of my students invited me to his home for dinner on the weekend. Arriving at his home, he invited me in and promptly took me to the back of the house. The family maintained a large truck patch and raised bees for honey, as well. Abutting the back of the garden was the WALL. It was my first chance to walk up to that damned thing and touch it. This was at a time when E. German soldiers still patrolled right up to the wall on the other side. My student told me that occassionally, when they heard the guards passing along the wall, he and has siblings would toss a bee hive over the wall. Loud screams followed……
Remember the good ol' days when comedian Yakov Smirnof had a whole shtick about being communist, the KGB and all the "luxuries" that came along with socialism?
Maybe Pelosi should review Smirnof's stand-up act – she might remember how it REALLY sucked to live under communism back in the early 80s.
I think she was only about 65 yrs old then. (And Barbara Walters was only 72.)
But at least we gave Dhasselhoff and the Fonz enough fodder to occupy them for the day……..
The USA and its NATO allies just squandered its money to make Germany strong again.(Germany just the other week dropped to second on exports in the world–China is now #1)Everything Germany lost in the war it is buying back(ownes 51% of stock in all sorts of European companies–even ones in Poland) or soon to be bailing out(Greece,Italy,Spain Ireland,Portugal anyone?)How soon will Germany be helping other countries directly?(Caucasus is in revolt right now—gee wonder what is there?Oil maybe?)The big question I have is this–now that Europe is united, why do we still have NATO?How can we afford it???
I remember the day it happened like it was yesterday. We watched the wall come down on the news and my Dad said, I never thought I'd live to see the day this would happen. To see what was left of the wall and it was still up in many places in Berlin in 95 was a bit wierd……
I watched round the clock on tv & laughed with them & cried for them. It was amazing, & now that
the history has begun to be written, it is even more so.
Hmmm…. My understanding is that language is hardly enough, that Austrians consider themselves to be separate from Germans, and that they prefer to be Austrians. It would be interesting to hear from an Austrian on this question.
Great post! It is also worth noting that the culture of corruption from the East Germany spilled into the West after unification in some areas like education for example. The scandal with the PhDs for sale rocked the very base of the German science – it started 20 years ago when some folks with money decided to take a shortcut (like many well connected did in communism). It is a sad story of how deteriorating the socialism and the corruption is for society.
Thank you Ellie, that is a great compliment coming from you…
All that I can add is that this "reunified" Germany in Europe seems to lead all other European nations in economy!
Thomas Sowell said it so well, didn't he? He usually always is on the money with whatever he says! That is the problem with what I had learned to call the "anti-intellectual scholars movement" of today that blossomed during the 60's! I had a Professor (Environmental Psychologist) in 1972 note that an anti-intellectual movement was running wild through our educational establishment! Must have have been the Progressive Movement, as I understand now!
Vic, Vic, Vic….you're telling me the Catholic Church, founded by Jesus the Messiah and twelve Jewish disciples, decided after 1500 years to go for Zeus worship ?
You are either bat-shit crazy or….bat-shit crazy.
Unfortunately, according to the bible, "except for the set-apart elect, no flesh shall survive in the latter days." "But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened." I thank the set-apart Hebrew Jewish Savior, "Yahshua" for that, who came in the name of his father, "Yahweh" to save us! As it is written in the bible, "Hebrew" is the only inspired word of YHWH, ELOHIM and all things must be proven by it, including the New Covenant (Testament)!
FYI: The Pope in 1520 (actually not that long ago, right?) asked Petrus Galatinus, a high ranking Spanish Priest in the Vatican to come up with a name to replace the Jewish Messiah with a name to honor the highest Greek Deity, "Zeus." Petrus did so and then came the name "Jesus" to give honor to Zeus! as the "Christian Savior"! What about the third Commandment? It history folks and the whole world has been deceived as it is written! If you're interested in truth, I suggest that you research this following site: info@icyahweh.org
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[...] » Saturday Open Thread: Reunification Edition – Big GovernmentToday, in 1990, West and East Germany agreed to a plan to reunite as one country. It marked the definitive end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, the West went on to squander the victory. … You go ahead there Fritz, Hans, jiovoni and Marcel… take the plunge… [...]
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