The Fall & Our Future, The Culture War, 2020 Update

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Fall & Our Future
 
Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  I'll never forget the emotion I felt watching that stark symbol of communism come tumbling down.
 
Young Germans poured out of their homes and overwhelmed the security guarding the piece of concrete that physically and psychologically separated East and West Berlin.  They quickly began demolishing it piece by piece.
 
The seeds of the wall's destruction were planted a couple of years earlier in 1987 when President Ronald Reagan delivered one of his most famous speeches.  Standing before the historic Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Reagan spoke directly to the leader of the Soviet Union and forcefully declared:
 
"General Secretary 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!"
 
While reflecting on this anniversary, I couldn't help but think of a recent poll of millennials.  It found that nearly 70% of millennials are willing to vote for a socialist candidate.  Even more frightening, a third said they approve of communism.
 
How is that possible?  How can the most highly educated generation of Americans, with Google literally at their fingertips, be so clueless about what life was like under communism? 
 
This is beyond shocking.  It's scandalous.  It is a damning indictment of our modern educational establishment and the elected politicians who failed to prevent that establishment from becoming an indoctrination enterprise. 
 
Either we haven't taught our children what the Berlin Wall was and why it came down or we have taught them a lie.  Sadly, I fear it is the latter.
 
I suspect most young Americans are being indoctrinated to believe that capitalism and free markets are evil, that America is evil.  So evil, that they're willing to embrace economic and political ideas that have resulted in tremendous death and suffering.
 
My friends, 30 years ago I thought America had won the Cold War.  Apparently, the fight against communism still continues.  Only today the battlefield isn't West Berlin.  The fight is on our high school and college campuses.
 
 
 
The Culture War
 
The Supreme Court is hearing several cases this term with tremendous implications for religious liberty.  Not surprisingly, at least one far-left group is attempting to rig the result by demanding that Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh recuse themselves from these critical cases.
 
Why?  Because they had the audacity to pose for a picture with the president of the National Organization for Marriage, which advocates for the "radical idea" that marriage should be the union of one man and one woman.
 
This is further evidence of just how extreme the left has become.  Not content with having won the battle over the civil definition of marriage, it is now trying to restrict religious liberty across the board. 
 
It has launched an aggressive campaign called "Beyond I Do."  The success of this effort could be seriously impacted by the outcome of these pending Supreme Court decisions.  Thus the attempt to intimidate Alito and Kavanaugh.
 
The left lost the fight over Kavanaugh's confirmation, but it never gives up.  It wants to disqualify him over a picture.  And impeach him if possible.
 
 
 
More Impeachment Lies
 
Yesterday we noted that the alleged CIA "whistleblower" may have committed perjury by failing to disclose his contacts with congressional staffers prior to filing his complaint.  It seems he isn't the only one.
 
Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and an Obama holdover, is widely seen as a star witness in the House impeachment effort.  President Trump removed Yovanovitch in May. 
 
Ambassador Yovanovitch testified before Rep. Adam Schiff's kangaroo court last month.  Under questioning from Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Yovanovitch said she had ignored messages sent in August from a Democrat staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who wanted to speak with her about "quite delicate/time-sensitive" matters.
 
The timing of the staffers email to Yovanovitch is suspicious as it was sent just two days after the CIA "whistleblower" filed his complaint.
 
Yovanovitch told Zeldin that she referred the message to the State Department so that someone in the Legislative Affairs Office could "handle the correspondence." 
 
You can appreciate why State Department officials would be sensitive about handling official business through the proper channels after Hillary Clinton's private server scandal.  In fact, Hillary warned State Department employees against using personal email accounts for official business and she even fired an ambassador for doing so. 
 
So kudos to Yovanovitch for following proper protocol.  Except she didn't.
 
Fox News has obtained emails indicating that Yovanovitch did in fact reply to the Democrat staffer using a private email account.  It seems that her response to Rep. Zeldin was not entirely truthful. 
 
Responding to this revelation, Rep. Zeldin said, "It is greatly concerning that Ambassador Yovanovitch didn't answer my question as honestly as she should have, especially while under oath."
 
In related news, Republican senators are stepping up their efforts to expose Hunter Biden's dealings with the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma.  It turns out that the company was aggressively lobbying the State Department and using Biden's name to gain access and favor. 
 
 
 
2020 Update
 
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg filed paperwork today to have his name appear on the Alabama Democratic presidential primary ballot.  (Alabama is the state with the earliest filing deadline.)
 
Bloomberg's move was motivated by growing angst among establishment Democrats that they need a stronger candidate.  And Bloomberg may not be the last candidate to jump in.  There are reports that former Attorney General Eric Holder may get into the race too.