The Fall of the Berlin Wall, and Its Meaning

Richard Ebeling emails:

Next Monday, November 9th, marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. For 28 years, from 1961 to 1989, it stood as a symbol of the tyranny of the totalitarian state under which the individual was viewed as the property of the state, with no right to leave the "workers' paradise" without the permission of that state. And if you tried, you ran the risk of being killed by the armed guards of the East German communist government.

In a new piece that I've posted, "The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tyranny of the State," I explain the history and human tragedy of the Berlin Wall, and I emphasize the threat that Big Government represents to all our freedom -- including the right of freedom of movement -- and which should be remembered on this 20-year celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

If there is only one story you read about the Berlin Wall, it should be this one. As always, Ebeling frames his report within a greater context, this time the individual's right to free movement. He also provides some great background information on the actual construction of the wall and Nikita S. Khrushchev's role in it.

Read it here.