From a glorious American moment:
…I want emphatically to state tonight that if the outrages in Poland do not cease, we cannot and will not conduct “business as usual” with the perpetrators and those who aid and abet them. Make no mistake, their crime will cost them dearly in their future dealings with America and free peoples everywhere. I do not make this statement lightly or without serious reflection.
We have been measured and deliberate in our reaction to the tragic events in Poland. We have not acted in haste, and the steps I will outline tonight and others we may take in the days ahead are firm, just, and reasonable…
…When 19th century Polish patriots rose against foreign oppressors, their rallying cry was, “For our freedom and yours.” Well, that motto still rings true in our time. There is a spirit of solidarity abroad in the world tonight that no physical force can crush. It crosses national boundaries and enters into the hearts of men and women everywhere. In factories, farms, and schools, in cities and towns around the globe, we the people of the Free World stand as one with our Polish brothers and sisters. Their cause is ours, and our prayers and hopes go out to them this Christmas.
Yesterday, I met in this very room with Romuald Spasowski, the distinguished former Polish Ambassador who has sought asylum in our country in protest of the suppression of his native land. He told me that one of the ways the Polish people have demonstrated their solidarity in the face of martial law is by placing lighted candles in their windows to show that the light of liberty still glows in their hearts.
Ambassador Spasowski requested that on Christmas Eve a lighted candle will burn in the White House window as a small but certain beacon of our solidarity with the Polish people. I urge all of you to do the same tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve, as a personal statement of your commitment to the steps we’re taking to support the brave people of Poland in their time of troubles.
Once, earlier in this century, an evil influence threatened that the lights were going out all over the world. Let the light of millions of candles in American homes give notice that the light of freedom is not going to be extinguished. We are blessed with a freedom and abundance denied to so many. Let those candles remind us that these blessings bring with them a solid obligation, an obligation to the God who guides us, an obligation to the heritage of liberty and dignity handed down to us by our forefathers and an obligation to the children of the world, whose future will be shaped by the way we live our lives today… Ronald Reagan, December 23, 1981
We can speak out, we can be clear; we can do this without making promises we can’t keep and without inflaming the situation further…the backdrop to Reagan’s speech was the diligent, covert support to the Polish freedom fighters, letting them know that while we couldn’t come to their aid in arms, we would not forget them, nor abandon them to their fate. Their are plenty of Poles who will to this day say that Reagan’s forthright condemnation of oppression kept their spirits up and even in the darkest time – when some of them were imprisoned in the darkest dungeons – steeled them to fight on, because America was always there.
Obama is haltingly coming along towards a little courage on Iran, but even when he notes what is happening, he temporizes and still makes gutless statements about not “meddling” in Iranian affairs. We need clear, bold leadership – not timid bleats of a man unsure of himself and ignorant of the true greatness of the nation he leads.
