'Thirty years ago this weekend, the Berlin Wall fell -- and the world changed. ... Looking back, the gap between the hopes of 1989 and the facts of 2019 is stark,' writes JohnAvlon for CNNOpinion
John Avlon is a CNN senior political analyst. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.It felt like the future was endlessly bright. John Avlon The Cold War had been won without firing a shot and an"Evil Empire" was ending.It was a celebration of liberation and the rise of liberal democracy as a new consensus, elevating individuals over ideological excesses.
But an invisible barrier still divides Germany We've seen a degree of historical amnesia kick in; a growing fascination with socialism among a generation born after the end of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And, even worse, we've caught glimpses of a kitschy romanticization of Communism, which does deep disrespect to the 100 million people who were killed in its name. Our contemporary impulse to attack policy differences in our democracy is a slippery slope to a Soviet state.
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