Ronald Reagan’s perhaps finest moment came when he stood next to the shameful Berlin Wall and challenged the Soviet Premier: “ Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Not too long thereafter, the wall did come down and with it the Soviet empire. Now, two decades later, it is the U.S. empire erecting or supporting shameful walls in Baghdad, Palestine, and most notably along the Mexico border. Walls always divide people and inevitably create far more problems than they solve. Are we ever going to learn from history, or are we going to prove Gore Vidal right when he calls the U.S. the “United States of Amnesia”?
This article appears in Jan 8-15, 2009.