October 3rd is a day that will most likely pass into obscurity this year here in the United States: we will fret over the latest self-imposed difficulties of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and multiple other inconsequentialities, but in all likelihood we will have nothing concrete with which to mark the day. I doubt very much that the Germans will have quite the same outlook. On this day in history, 20 years ago, East and West Germany were re-unified; to any mildly serious student of history, this represents an unfortunately cyclic event in the troubled story of that nation. I would contend that something more momentous than we typically acknowledge occurred on that day: self-determination resolutely triumphed over the imposed artificiality of a totalitarian system bereft of both a clear comprehension of human nature and a realistic conception of its own striking inadequacies.
Consider the implications transmitted by the simple decision to build a structure such as the Berlin Wall: ostensibly constructed as a means to prevent ‘western’ infiltration of the pristine heaven of the Eastern Bloc, in reality it served as a method to prevent the brain drain Joseph Stalin had become concerned with in 1948. In short, it seemed that intelligent, educated, and talented people did not share his vision of a perfect society in which the State dictated every aspect of one’s life…imagine that. As late as 1989, East German Border Guards still operated under a shooting policy as concerns would-be defectors. The implication here is staggering: better that you should die than exist in a free country. This fact alone should make any defender of Communist ideology to be shamed into silence…and yet it doesn’t.
We adopt policies and espouse outlooks that may be considered as being derived from the same Marxist-Leninist leanings as the mind-boggling idiocy that brought us such successful states as Bulgaria, East Germany, and Albania, smug and satisfied in the knowledge that the theory is correct but the practice has been wrong- how amazingly short-sighted. Rousseau (regardless of how inane some of his ramblings have proved) once correctly wrote that “man longs to be free, but everywhere he is in chains.” Said chains may be of the more figurative version to which he was referring, ignorance and a lack of education, or a more concrete version in which the very freedom of movement is limited. This is indeed a sad commentary on our evolution as a human species: we have never satisfactorily answered a fundamental question: by what right do you impose your restrictions on me?
As I am a proponent of natural rights, I believe no such right exists as it tramples on the inherent human rights of all persons. To argue that such limitations serve the State which in turn serves the people is an exercise in the worst kind of circular logic. As such, it amazes me to no end that this line of argumentation is ever seriously countenanced. Thomas Paine once noted that society is often confused with government. Surely, in the case of the division of the German State into two parts that reflected the societal leanings of political entities is as absurd as the idea of man-made barriers created to limit the movement of those who erected them. I sometimes wonder if future humans will look back at this sad chapter of our existence with a look of incredulity and disbelief: were there actually people who believed this was acceptable and productive behavior?
As I noted above, the Germans have been particularly susceptible to the artificial divisions imposed on them by external forces, at the expense of national identity and the planting of a seed of understandable aggression. It remains an ironical point that the Soviet Union, itself a victim of historical self-doubt and paranoia, was the architect of the ne plus ultra as regards an effrontery to the natural, free condition of the human species. Thankfully, the erstwhile misinterpreted “will of the people” overtook the blighted vision of the founders of the Soviet experiment, forcing the ideal that humans would prefer to be the authors of their own destiny, right or wrong, and neither required nor desired the influence of a governing body to elucidate their personal hopes and dreams in a farcical display of stark ignorance.
On this particular day in history, a 45-year laundry list of human rights violations and intellectual fraudulence were laid to rest on what Ronald Reagan described as the “ash-heap of history.” On June 12, 1987, he challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall;” while the wall was broken on November 9th, 1989 (the day of the month having resounding significance to the German people since 1848), the proverbial nail in the coffin of totalitarian European governments was pounded in on October 3rd, 1990 with the reunification of a country. The partition had hitherto represented a “division that never represented the will of the people,” as noted by a resident in the October issue of Smithsonian magazine. As a triumph of will (if one will pardon the phrase) over intellectually lacking ideology, this date in history is one that should be celebrated the world over: a committed populace, armed with the righteousness of its own existence can never be truly defeated, only delayed. This historical episode also provides future generations with a significant warning: always beware the nation the builds a fence with the barbs pointing inward.
The Unrepentant Elitist 