Read a great article from Steven Hayward on the Berlin Wall.  It is incredible to me that tyrants genuinely believe they can keep a group of people against their will in a tyrannical system.  Any cursory glance at history would clearly prove the illusory nature and unenforceability long term of any tyrannical scheme.  It takes one’s breath away that tyrants would believe they can deny the people their freedom and not suffer the consequences all tyrants eventually must face.  Here is the article with my comments on the philosophy of oppression and captivity after each paragraph.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Ten years ago this week the Berlin Wall started to come down, and it was immediately evident that the Communist empire would come down with it. A few years before the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, the Russian writer Ilya Ehrenburg offered what would become a fitting epitaph for Communist tyranny: “If the whole world were to be covered with asphalt, one day a crack would appear in that asphalt; and in that crack, grass would grow.” The crack in the Wall in 1989 proved to be the fatal fissure.

Tyranny can only survive by threats, intimidation, and by blocking the free movement of people, ideas, and money.  Tyranny is based upon lies and when the lies are called lies by the courageous people—the end is near.  Tyranny relies on the masses of people to sit by quietly and allow the walls to be built up around them.

When President Ronald Reagan went to Berlin in 1987 and said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” (a line his foreign policy advisers tried several times to delete from his speech), most observers thought, “There he goes again.” Reagan had predicted back in 1983 that it would be Communism, not western democracy, that would end up on the ash heap of history. Almost no one thought the beginning of the end would come before the decade was over. How did Reagan know?

Leaders are typically criticized for standing up to tyranny.  Many managers think a program of détente with tyranny is acceptable.  True leaders know that détente with tyranny enslaves people in an unnatural system that denies people their God given rights.  Reagan courageously called the Communist system what it was—an Godless materialistic system that denies people their freedoms and humanity.  Reagan understood that tyranny only survives by counting on the passivity of the masses.  Reagan awoke the masses to the hope of a better tomorrow!

One other modern statesman predicted the demise of communism before the century’s end—Winston Churchill. In the mid-1950s, when Churchill was Prime Minister for the second time, he told a young aide that if he lived his normal span of life he would surely see Eastern Europe free from Communism. How did Churchill know?

Winston Churchill understood the lies of communism also.  Both of these great statesmen knew that any system that denies people the right to freely choose their futures is tyranny—no matter how much it is justified by propaganda.  Human freedom is a God given right.  If the freedoms are taken from the people, then any leader with a historical perspective will know it is temporary.  Tyranny is a system that forces people to do what the managers say, regardless of the people’s desires.

Reagan and Churchill came to their assurance about the fate of Communism by the simple recognition that a social system so wholly unnatural could not long endure, even with the powerful scientific props of modern tyranny. The Berlin Wall was the ultimate artifact of this unnatural system: unlike the Great Wall of China or other bastions, the Berlin Wall was the first bulwark intended to keep people in instead of out. Reagan had noticed the significance of this back in the early 1960s, and his resolve was bolstered by a visit he made to East Berlin before he was president, during which, his traveling companions said, Reagan shook with rage at the tyranny he saw first hand. He resolved that “We must do something to free these people.”

Walls are typically built to keep invaders out, but tyranny builds walls to keep people in!  The tyrants will claim the wall is to keep people out and this is exactly what the East German government did.  They claimed the wall was to keep the West Germans out of East Germany and told the lie repeatedly to their constituents.  Reagan could not believe the hubris of the East German communist government.  What kind of system would force people to stay in a system against their will and lie about the purpose of the wall?  Any courageous leader would resolve to do something to free the people from the Godless tyranny.  What type of leader would continue to allow the people to suffer while they benefitted by others loss of freedoms?  Reagan vowed to do something about this and he did!  The world has benefited from the courage and resolve of this great President.

As Churchill contemplated at the end of World War II the division of Europe that would necessarily come with Soviet occupation of the East, he remarked to Charles de Gaulle that while the Soviets were a hungry wolf now, “after the meal come the digestion period,” and that the Soviet Union would not be able to digest the peoples of Eastern Europe. Sure enough, every few years, like a burp of indigestion, a part of Eastern Europe would flare up and require to be put down forcibly—Hungary in 1956; Czechoslovakia in 1968; Poland in 1981.

Tyranny is not capable of maintaining their power base.  They may implement a tyrannical system, but the people will eventually wake up to their plight.  They will throw the tyrants out of power and give freedom back to the people.  In every system based on tyranny there is a history of revolts and flare ups.  This is a sign that the people are dissatisfied and will eventually overcome the tyrants.  Each revolt builds in power and resolve until the innate dream for freedom cannot be held back.

By early 1989 it was time for another period of Eastern European indigestion. It was no longer possible for the Soviet Union to check the desire of Eastern Europeans to be free. A military crackdown would have made a hash of Gorbachev’s program of glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika (“restructuring”) and ruined Soviet-American relations at a crucial time.

Repeated waves of resistance to tyranny and lack of results in the communist systems eventually produces change.  It becomes no longer possible for the tyranny to resist the desire of the people to be free.  A forceful crackdown on the aspirations of the people makes a mockery of the alleged slogans and value system of the tyranny.   Tyranny is always hypocritical—claiming freedoms and independence to the people while building walls and ruling with fear and intimidation. 

The beginning of the end started in Hungary. After Solidarity had swept an election in Poland, reformers within the Hungarian ruling Communist party pushed for a genuine multi-party election there as well. A divided Communist party was unable to blunt the momentum for a process that it knew was likely to be its death sentence. But reformers knew that they faced great hazards during the transitional phase, and they feared that another 1956-style military crackdown might be in store, perhaps from East Germany (whose Stalinist leadership never did sympathize with Gorbachev’s program) if not the Soviet Union.

Tyranny is a house of cards and will fall when freedom loving people act with courage.  The more light that shines into the hypocritical behavior of the tyrants the faster it will fall.  The reformers know they will be subject to attacks through the press, judicial system, police, etc, but continue the course because they know the truth and history is on their side.

So the Hungarians decided on a bold stroke. They opened their border with Austria, and stopped detaining East Germans who transited through Hungary en route to Austria. A back door around the Berlin Wall had opened up, and thousands were pouring through. The Hungarians did not inform the Soviet Union or East Germany in advance. “We were pretty sure,” Hungarian reformer Imre Pozsgay said later, “that if hundreds of thousands of East Germans went to the West, the East German regime would fall, and in that case Czechoslovakia was also out.”

The Hungarians opened their border with Austria and people by the millions departed.  They did not need to be solicited by the Austrians, but they freely left when given the choice.  This is the fatal flaw in every tyrannical system—the majority of the people will choose freedom over tyranny and will leave if given a choice.   Communism fell—not from an outside attack—but from the internal rot. 

They were right. Throughout the fall protests in East German cities were growing, reaching a climax on November 4, when a million people took to the streets of East Berlin. East Germany’s aging tyrant, Erich Honecker, had stepped down in October, but it was too late. His successors bowed to the inevitable on November 9, and announced the opening of the borders to the West. Within hours thousands of Germans from both sides of the Berlin divide descended on the Wall with picks and hammers. “We did not suspect,” the East German foreign minister wrote, “that the opening of the Wall was the beginning of the end of the Republic.” He was clearly oblivious to Ehrenburg’s prophecy that once a blade of grass poked through the concrete, the Wall would come tumbling down.

When enough people rise up against their tyrannical masters, the system will fall.  Over a million people took to the streets and in the end the wall tumbled down—just as Reagan and Churchill said it would.  The tyrants had no idea how many people hated their regime and how quickly it would be discarded when given a choice.  A free people will choose freedom and opportunity over oppression and slavery every time.  Ronald Reagan said it best, “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!”   Like the good Book says, “The Truth will set you free.”

This is my all time favorite movie scene!  William Wallace teaching the Scots that life without freedom is no life at all.  Honor is not a subject that is covered in today's schools, but it should be.  Never take our God given freedoms for granted.  Freedom from tyranny is never free and eternal vigilance is the price to maintain the hard earned freedoms won in Western civilization.  Study the history of your country and study the history of man's quest for freedom against tyranny.  Do you know the price paid for our freedoms?  Very inspiring stuff!  What is your favorite inspirational moment from the movies?  Remember that our lives are not dress rehearsal and we only have one life to live.  How you live that life will echo throughout eternity.  Live a God honoring life and make a difference in your sphere of influence.  Here are my favorite freedom quotes.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward 

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. - Thomas Paine

History does not teach fatalism.  There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads. - Charles de Gaulle

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. - Thomas Campbell

Here is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081.  First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs.  Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify.  And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered expression. - Gerard K. O'Neill

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. - Abraham Lincoln

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. - Dick Cheney

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. - Robert J. McCracken

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. - Thomas Paine

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

We have to call it "freedom": who'd want to die for "a lesser tyranny"? - Mignon McLaughlin

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. - Moshe Dayan

There are two freedoms - the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought. - Charles Kingsley

No one is free when others are oppressed. - Author Unknown

Nations grown corrupt

Love bondage more than liberty;

Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty. - John Milton

Most people want security in this world, not liberty. - H.L. Mencken

Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves. - Author Unknown

Liberty has never come from the government.  Liberty has always come from the subjects of it.  The history of liberty is a history of resistance. - Woodrow Wilson

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights. - Felix Frankfurter

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. - Frederick Douglass

Let freedom never perish in your hands. - Joseph Addison

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. - James Madison

Freedom has a thousand charms to show,

That slaves, howe'er contented, never know. - William Cowper

The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. - Daniel Webster

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks.  Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools.  And their grandchildren are once more slaves. - D.H. Lawrence

I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery. - Author Unknown

Liberty means responsibility.  That is why most men dread it. - George Bernard Shaw

The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. - Edmund Burke

Freedom is never free. - Author Unknown

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom.  The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. - Thomas Macaulay

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. - Holy Bible

The Solidarity Movement was successful in forcing changes to the inept, inefficient and un-productive Polish Communist Party.  Tyranny comes in many sizes, shapes and forms, but displays several uncanny common characteristic wherever it is practiced.  Leadership in corporations and governments is not any different at its core principles.  Leadership in both fields is responsible to lead with character and produce long-term results.  When this doesn’t happen, there will be resistance and eventually the incompetent “leaders” will be ousted.  Here is a fantastic article on the Solidarity movement in blue with my analysis on Solidarity's resistance and tyranny's oppressive principles after each paragraph.  Enjoy the article and learn about the brave men and women from Poland who stood up for truth against their Communist Tyrants.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Established in September of 1980 at the Gdansk shipyards, Solidarity was an independent labor union instrumental in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, and the primary catalyst that would transform Poland from a repressive communist satellite to the EU member democracy it is today. The Solidarity movement received international attention, spreading anti-communist ideas and inspiring political action throughout the rest of the Communist Bloc, and its influence in the eventual fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe cannot be understated or dismissed.

When people cannot communicate freely with those in power—they are forced to resists the dictatorial powers who will not listen to the needs of their constituents.  Leaders are responsible for results and if the titled leaders will not produce results, then others leaders with purpose  and results will replace them.

Solidarity's cohesion and initial success, like that of other dissident movements, was not created overnight, or the result of any specific event or grievance. Rather, the emergence of Solidarity as a political force in Poland was spurred by governmental and economic difficulties that had continued to deepen over the course of an entire decade. Poland's 'shortage economy' put stress on the lives of everyday people who were unable to purchase daily necessities, such as bread or toilet paper, and faced endless queues for which there was rarely a reward. In July of 1980, the Polish government - facing economic crisis - was again forced to raise the price of goods while curbing the growth of wages. This was essentially the "last straw" for much of Poland's labor force, with strikes spreading almost at once across the country, in spite of the absence of any organized network.

When the people responsible for the management of a country or company cannot produce results—this leads to many grievances and events that place stress on the people following the inept “leaders.”   When in charge, take command or you will be held responsible.  There does not need to be an organized network, only a common complaint among all members like the inept Polish Communist Regime.  People unite around the incompetence of the current administration to drive change.

In Gdansk, at the then 'Lenin Shipyards', the shipyard workers were unified by the additional outrage of Anna Walentynowicz's firing. The dismissal of Walentynowicz - a popular crane-operator and activist, combined with the previous firing of Lech Walesa - an outspoken electrician, galvanized the workers into taking action. A strike began on August 14th, led by Walesa, who gave voice to the workers' demands for the legalization of independent labor unions, the raising of a monument to the 80 workers brutally murdered in a 1970 labor dispute in Gdansk, and the rehiring of both Walesa and Walentynowicz.

The first action of the oppressors is to fire or murder the leaders that are most vocal in their resistance to the incompetent management.  By firing the leaders of the resistance, tyrannical "leaders" expect the followers to passively surrender their ideals.  Anna Walentynowicz and Lech Walesa were both fired for addressing the lack of results of the Polish Communist Regime, but the Polish people did not surrender their ideals and convictions.

Despite nation-wide censorship and the severance of all phone connections between Gdansk and the rest of the country, several underground presses succeeded in covering the story and spreading the shipyard workers' message throughout Poland and the Eastern Bloc. On August 16th, several other strike committees joined the Gdansk shipyard workers and the following day 21 demands of the unified strike committee were put forward. These demands went far beyond the scope of local concern, calling for the legal formation of independent trade unions, an end to media censorship, the right to strike, new rights for the Church, the freeing of political prisoners, and improvements in the national health system. The movement's news-sheet, Solidarnosc, began being printed on the shipyard printing press at a run of 30,000 copies.

The second action of all dictatorial powers is to censor the free speech of the resistance to kill the truth about the inept management of the enterprise.  Tyranny's biggest fear is that the truth about the administration's incompetence and hypocrisy would be publically exposed. 

On August 18th, the Szczecin shipyard joined the Gdansk shipyard in protest, igniting a wave of strikes along the Polish coast. Within days, most of Poland was affected by factory shutdowns, with more and more unions forming and joining the Gdansk-based federation on a daily basis. With the situation in Gdansk gaining international support and media coverage, the Gdansk shipyard workers were able to hold out longer than many of their compatriots. Poland's Soviet government capitulated, sending a Governmental Commission to Gdansk, which on September 3rd signed an agreement ratifying many of the workers' demands. This agreement, known as the Gdansk Agreement, became recognized as the first step in dismantling Soviet power. Achieving the right to form labor unions independent of Communist Party control, and the right to strike, workers' concerns would now receive representation; common people were now able to introduce democratic changes into the communist political structure.

Tyranny counts on the passive behavior of the masses and will not yield to gentle requests.  History teaches that a God-less power hungry elite must be met with an equal but opposite Godly force to cause tyranny to relent.   The Polish Communistic regime only capitulated because of international support, media coverage, and a unified Solidarity.

With an upsurge of momentum in the wake of their success, workers' representatives - with Walesa on the pulpit - formed a national labor union on September 17th and Solidarity ('Solidarnosc' in Polish) was born. The first independent labor union in the Soviet Bloc, Solidarity's existence was remarkable to people the world over who had previously thought such an organization could never exist under communism. In Poland, millions of people hopeful for change rallied around the union and in the 500 days following the Gdansk Agreement, 10 million people - students, workers, intellectuals - joined Solidarnosc or one of its sub organizations (Independent Student Union, Craftsmen's Union, Farmer's Union, etc.). A quarter of the country's population bravely became members, including 80% of Poland's workforce, marking the only time in human history that such a percentage of a country's population voluntarily joined an organization. With the country behind them, Solidarity slowly transformed from a trade union to a full-on revolutionary movement, using strikes and other acts of protest to force change in government policies. The movement was careful, however, never to use violence, for fear of encouraging and validating harsh reprimands from the government.

Tyranny only recognizes a threat when the people stand so strongly with the resistance—they realize attacking the leadership is attacking everyone under their adminstration.  One, two, ten even a thousand dissidents can be thrown in jail, but not millions of the Polish workforce.  The Polish people called the bluff of the dictatorial threats and intimidation by standing together against the overt tyranny.  Over 80% of the Polish workforce bravely stood up to the Communist dictators by joining the Solidarity movement and this forced the Polish Communist to negotiate.

As quickly as December 1980, the Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers was erected, and the following month Walesa and other Solidarity delegates met with Pope John Paul II in Rome. After 27 Solidarity members in Bydgoszcz were assaulted by the state police during a state-initiated National Council meeting on March 19th, news spread throughout the underground press and nation-wide strike was planned. This action, involving over half a million people, brought Poland to a standstill and was the largest strike in the history of the Eastern Bloc. The government was forced to promise an investigation into the Bydgoszcz beatings and allow the story to be released to the international press.

When tyranny realizes the leaders of the resistance will not back down—they will attack the next line of leaders, hoping to break the unity of the resistance.  27 Solidarity members were assaulted, but it only strengthened the will to resist.  Solidarity insisted the beatings be released to the media to the shame of the oppressors.  Every dictatorial mis-step by the oppressors must be met by united actions by the oppressed people.

After the Gdansk Agreement, Moscow stepped up pressure on its Polish government, which continued to lose its control over Polish society. The Soviets put General Wojciech Jaruzelski in the driver's seat, expecting a crackdown on the Solidarity movement. On December 13th, 1981, Juruzelski delivered, declaring martial law and arresting some 5,000 Solidarity members in the middle of the night, Walesa and other Gdansk leaders among them. Censorship was expanded and police filled the streets. Hundreds of strikes taking place throughout the country were put down harshly by riot police, including several deaths during demonstrations in Gdansk and at the Wujek Coal Mine. By the end of 1981 strikes had ceased and Solidarity seemed crippled. In October of 1982, Solidarity was delegalized and banned. The Polish people were bowed, but not broken....

Tyranny will never willingly give up power and will attack on all fronts - in as many un-ethical ways it can think of to maintain power - regardless of their alleged principles.  In the Polish Communist Government's case, the communist had always claimed they were for the common workers, but the behaviors proved they only cared for their special perks and power.  Ideology is thown out the moment their tyrannical power is threatened.

Upon the arrest of the Solidarity leadership, more underground structures began to form, including Solidarity Radio and over 500 underground publications. Solidarity managed to persevere throughout the mid-80s as an underground movement, garnering extensive international support which condemned Jaruzelski's actions.

The more the resistance is attacked—the more it unites and goes underground.  The Solidarity movement created Solidarity radio and over 500 underground publications.  This ensured the truth about the un-Godly behavior of the oppressors would be made public.  The Solidarity radio and publications did not need to create lies about the oppressors as the truth is damning enough.

No other movement in the world was supported by such a wide gamut: Reagan, Thatcher, the Pope, Carrillo (head of communist Spain); NATO, Christians, Western communists, liberals, conservatives, and socialists - all voiced support for Solidarity's cause. US President Ronald Reagan imposed sanctions on Poland, which would eventually force the government to soften its policies. The CIA and Catholic Church provided funds, equipment and training to the Solidarity underground. And the Polish people still supported what remained of the movement, demonstrating through masses held by priests such as Jerzy Popieluszko, who would himself later become a martyr of the cause.

Resistance to tyranny always brings other principle-centered Godly people to the freedom movement’s aid.  The French people helped the Colonials in the Revolutionary War.  The free-enterprise, freedom loving, people of the world helped the Solidarity movement against the power hungry, anti-freedom, intimidation filled Polish Communist Regime.  Tyrannical "leaders" must wake up and realize they will not be tolerated by freedom loving people of the world.

By November of 1982, Walesa was released from prison; however, less than a month later, the government carried out an attack upon the movement, arresting 10,000 activists. On July 22, 1983, martial law was lifted, yet many restrictions on civil liberties and political life remained, as well as food rationing which would continue until the late 80s. On October 5th, Lech Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, despite the Polish government's attempts to defame him and their refusal to allow him to leave the country and accept the award.

Tyranny cannot survive unless Civil Liberties are revoked, violated and repressed.  Oppressors must defame the leaders of the resistance for fear that the people will learn the truth and refuse to follow the incompetent leaders.  Awards and recognitions given to the resistance leaders will be disparaged, minimized and excused away.  Tyranny can have only worship one god and that is Self.

When Mikhail Gorbachev assumed control over the Soviet Union in 1985, he was forced to initiate a series of reforms due to the worsening economic situation across the entire Eastern Bloc. These reforms included political and social reforms which led to a shift in policy in many Soviet satellites, including Poland, and led to the happy release of hundreds of political prisoners connected with Solidarity. However, Solidarity members continued to be the objects of persecution and discrimination.

The only reforms ever implemented in a tyrannical power-hungry regime are those that are forced upon the oppressors by a united resistance.  Gorbachev only relented to the political and social reforms from political expediency to maintain power.  As Lord Acton stated, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

By 1988, Poland's economic situation was worse than ever due to foreign sanctions and the government's refusal to introduce more reforms. A new wave of strikes swept the country after food costs were increased by 40%. Finally on August 26, the government announced it was ready to negotiate with Solidarity and met with Walesa, who incredulously agreed to call an end to the strikes. In preparation for an official negotiating conference with the government, a hundred-member committee was formed within Solidarity, composed of many sections, each of which was responsible for presenting specific demands to the government at the forthcoming talks. This conference, which took place in Warsaw from February 6th to April 4th, 1989, came to be known as the 'Polish Roundtable Talks.' Though the members of Solidarity had no expectation of major changes, the Roundtable Talks would irreversibly alter the political landscape and Polish society.

Years of no results in leadership will produce wave after wave of resistance, until the necessary changes are implemented.  Incompetent management will ultimately fail, because it does not meet the needs of those it claims to serve.  The Polish Communist blamed Solidarity for their fall, but their demise resulted from their own incompetence and pride.

On April 17, 1989, Solidarity was again legalized and the party was allowed to field candidates in upcoming elections. With its members immediately jumping to 1.5 million after legalization, the party was restricted to fielding candidates for only 35% of the seats in the new Sejm. Despite aggression and propaganda from the ruling party, extremely limited resources and pre-election polls that promised a communist victory, Solidarity managed to push forward a campaign that surprised everyone, including themselves. The party won every contested seat in the Sejm and 99 of 100 Senatorial seats: the new 'Contract Sejm' as it was called would be dominated by Solidarity.

Even after concessions, the tyrannical power will still utilize un-ethical propaganda and aggression to fear the populace into following their demands.  Tyranny never learns the lesson that a free people with a choice will never cower to threats and intimidation.  Solidarity won 99 of 100 Senatorial seats in the Polish Communist Regimes first free elections.  Throughout history, tyranny is clueless on how much they are hated by the people—even those who claim to be on their side.  Passive-aggressive behavior is rampant throughout any tyrannical system.  To the tyrants face it is: oaths of allegiance - hypocritical lies to pacify.  Behind their backs it is: Don't ask and don't tell.  The tyrants are saluted to their face and laughed at behind their backs.  An un-ending store of resentments and blatant hypocrisy by the followers surrounding the dictator; giving the tyrant the constant affirmations needed to affirm the lies and the liars conscience.  The lie continues until the first free elections - where the people rise up in mass and boot the tyrant unceremoniously out of power.

As agreed beforehand, Wojciech Jaruzelski was elected president; however the communist candidate for prime minister now failed to rally enough support to form a government and the Sejm elected Solidarity representative Tadeusz Mazowiecki as Prime Minister of Poland. Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister in Poland since 1945 and the first anywhere in Eastern Europe for 40 years. Under Mazowiecki a Solidarity-led government was formed, and only Jaruzelski remained of the old regime. Communism had collapsed in Poland and within months the famous Wall in Berlin would do the same.

The only way tyranny endures is through the intimidation and fear of the masses threatened with reprisals if they tell the truth.  Lech Walesa and other brave men and women had the courage to tell the truth.  The King has no clothes on period!  Through many personal attacks, imprisonments, and financial hardships—the leaders of Solidarity stood for truth, until the lies were fully exposed and the Polish Communist regime collapsed.  Shortly after, the whole Eastern Bloc of Communist Countries collapsed like dominoes under the weight of their own lies. 

The fall of communism in Poland thrust Solidarity into a role it was never prepared for, and in its life as a political party it saw much infighting and a decline in popularity. Walesa decided to resign from his Solidarity post and announced his intent to run for president in the upcoming elections. In December 1990, Lech Walesa was elected president of Poland and became the first Polish president ever elected by popular vote. The 1990 elections in Poland, which scored astonishing victories for anti-communist candidates, set-off a string of peaceful anti-communist revolutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe which led to the fall of communism is these regions. In the Baltic’s people were joining hands in solidarity, and the cry for freedom could be heard in the Estonian Singing Revolution and its Lithuanian and Latvian counterparts. The example of Solidarity had emboldened the oppressed peoples of the entire Eastern Bloc to stand together and demand their independence. By Christmas of 1991, the USSR had ceased to exist, and all the former communist territories across Eurasia became sovereign entities once again.

When brave people stand, it grows the spines of all oppressed people around the world to speak the truth against the oppressors, who feed them only lies.  Tyranny cannot stand against the light of reason and truth.  Tyranny is an outmoded form of leadership that will not survive in today and tomorrow's information age.

Today Solidarity's role in Polish politics is limited and the organization has again reverted back toward the role of a more traditional trade union with a membership that currently exceeds 1.1 million. Summer 2005 marked the 25th anniversary of the historic Solidarity movement, remembering the hardships of its humble beginnings and celebrating the changes those hardships inspired across the continent.

The thing we most learn from history is that we do not learn from history. – George Bernard Shaw

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana

I listened to my daughter Christina recite a poem for her school project tonight.  I decided to research the poem and I sure am glad I did!  The poem was written by a Canadian MD during World War I.  This post is dedicated to our brothers and sisters north of the border in Canada.  Laurie and I had the honor of speaking outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada two weekends ago.  I am very proud of the hunger, attitude and leadership we witnessed.  The Canadians are making a difference and watching the courage of so many leaders tells me the men of Flanders did not die in vain.  Here is the story behind the poem In Flanders Field and here is the link.

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

What part are you playing in the media war to ensure these brave young men and the cause they fought for are remembered?  Let us not break faith with those who died to maintain our freedoms - they risked their lives defending freedom and we only risk rejection and derision defending ours.  We have no excuses!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had a series of debates during the senatorial elections of Illinois in 1858.  These debates were extremely popular and catapulted Abraham Lincoln into a national level politician.  He may have lost the battle for senator, but he won the war of ideas and was elected president in 1860.  There were many subjects up for debate, but let me discuss the main issues of slavery and popular government.  Author David Donald wrote an excellent book called Lincoln.   Let’s start with quoting for Donald’s book.

One way to formulate that difference was to see Douglas as the advocate of majority rule and Lincoln as the defender of minority rights.  In Douglas view there were virtually no limits on what the majority of the people of a state or a territory could do—including, if they so chose, holding black-skinned inhabitants in slavery.  While Lincoln also valued self-government and would make no attempt to end diversity on, say, cranberry laws in Indiana and Illinois, he felt passionately that no majority should have the power to limit the most fundamental rights of a minority to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This is a powerful paragraph and filled with meaning that has importance in the modern world.  Stephen Douglas was arguing from the law of the land and holding as his highest principle the right of people to vote in a government of their choice.  Abraham Lincoln believed in this principle, but held a higher principle.  The higher principle was tied back to his Biblical beliefs that all men were created equal before an Almighty God.  This is the essence of wisdom—to build a hierarchy of beliefs for which you stand.  All beliefs cannot be equal.  For example, I believe in representative government and the rights for people to vote for their representatives.  But if the people voted by a 51% margin to perform euthanasia on anyone over 80 to reduce taxes should we go along with this?  If we objected, by what principle would we object?  Lincoln objected to the law of the land by a higher law, an absolute law derived from Biblical teaching.   In our government, one person with the truth can back down a majority.  Majorities can be wrong and we must follow the rule of law if it conflicts with the law of the land. 

What makes the Civil War so tragic to me is good people on both sides, neglected higher principles and attempted to settle the dispute on lower principles.  I believe the person who throws the first punch has shifted from reason to emotion.  As a country we must let reason and let principles rule our choices.   Both Lincoln and Douglas were holding on to different aspects of truth.  Lincoln had a higher truth and if reasonable men would have discussed the issues, a Civil War could have been avoided.  Instead passion ruled the day and honorable men and women on both sides were hurt.  Both sides used force to settle the discussion and force is a terrible principle to use to settle a disagreement.  Douglas used reason, but had a myopic vision of the world as it was.  Lincoln used reason, but with a larger vision, he saw the world of absolutes and the hierarchy of principles.  The mass of people used passion and war resulted with terrible losses for everyone.  Every truly great leader must be a person of principle.  They must be willing to go against the majority, company, state or even country if the majority is violating an absolute principle.  Lincoln was great leader and had both sides come to the table and reasoned together the posterity of many men and women would be alive today. 

Do you believe there are absolutes even above majority rule?  If you do, where did you get those absolutes?  Every country must have a rule of law that the people agree to or chaos will ensue.  If the majority of you club, organization, state, or country are going against the absolute principles—will you make a stand?  Lincoln made a stand and history remembers him.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward