25th Anniversary of Reagan's Evil Empire Speech
Steve Beren, March 7, 2008
www.berenforcongress.com

Tomorrow - March 8 - is the 25th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's "evil empire" speech. During the Cold War, liberty was endangered by a harsh reality - the global threat of Soviet communism. But conventional wisdom - especially liberal conventional wisdom - did not properly understand the magnitude of the threat.

President Reagan disagreed with the liberals, who accepted the idea of a Soviet "sphere of influence," with permanent "captive nations" in Eastern Europe. And the liberals accepted the concepts of "détente" and "peaceful coexistence," hoping for a policy of "containment."

But President Reagan sought liberation of the captive nations and a rollback of communism, rejecting the concepts of détente, peaceful coexistence, and containment. In short, Reagan favored a victory strategy over in the global batter against communism.

Today, America is again a nation at war, and again it is indeed a world war. The war being waged by Islamic fascist terrorism is fought not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but on a global scale - we have seen the slaughter of innocents from Madrid and London to New York City and Bali, and recently we saw the terrorist assassination of a pro-democracy leader in Pakistan.

Those who minimize the threat of Islamic terrorism are dangerously wrong. We must achieve greater unity as a nation, with a clear understanding of the aims and goals of the enemy. This war is military and ideological - a war of freedom, liberty, and democracy against the spread of fascism, terrorism, and tyranny. We must reject the voices of denial and defeatism.

A quarter of a century ago, in his famous "evil empire" speech, Ronald Reagan spoke about the danger facing America and the world at that time:

"[T]hey are the focus of evil in the modern world.... [S]ome would have us accept them at their word and accommodate ourselves to their aggressive impulses. But if history teaches anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.... I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written." (President Ronald Reagan, speech to National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983)

Today, the focus of evil in the modern world is Islamic fascism. Once again, history teaches that appeasement and wishful thinking is folly. Weakness in the face of terrorism would mean the loss of our freedom.

Those who favor cutting off funding to the troops, immediate withdrawal, surrendering Iraq to the terrorists - those who minimize the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions disqualify themselves from meeting the challenges facing our nation.

President Reagan believed we would rise to the challenge of communism, and I believe America today will rise to the challenge of Islamic fascism. Let us reject the defeatist voices advocating an "exit strategy," and let us write the next pages of history with a victory strategy.

Steve Beren for Congress
1916 Pike Place, #12667
Seattle WA 98101

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