Free by Divine Right

In the face of the mounting unrest in Iran--the pent-up frustration of thirty years of medieval feudal rule--I was struck today by the President's unequivocal words about government and men:

"The struggle in the world today for the hearts and minds of mankind is based on one simple question: Is man born to be free, or slave? In country after country, people have long known the answer to that question. We are free by divine right."

Unfortunately, those were not the words of President Barack Obama, but of Ronald Reagan, quoted by Andrew Klavan. President Reagan spoke those words 30 years ago about the Soviet Union. Within ten years the USSR had been consigned to what the President called the "ash heap of history," in a final, ironic riposte to the original author of those words, Leon Trotsky.

President Reagan believed in the moral absolutism that freedom always trumped tyranny, and that the historical role of America was as a constantly evolving model and supporter of freedom--from Bunker Hill to Gettysburg to Flanders fields to Omaha Beach and beyond. 

President Obama, enamored of the Thinking Class, believes in the moral relativism of the I'm-okay-you're okay school of Realpolitik. He believes that the historic role of America is talk your way out of problems, racking up Nobel Peace Prizes along the way like 5th grade spelling bee ribbons,  a la Jimmy Carter. We contract out our foreign policy to the feckless United Nations, while the world goes to hell in a bucket. Pres. Obama's answer to Iran has been to show no comfort to the rebels, but to apologize for what he perceives as historic American slights to Islam.

As Iran's feudal lords slowly crush that country's mounting rebellion, and North Korea continues to cross line after line in the sand, we'll see who's approach is more effective in the long run: the moral absolutism of Ronald Reagan or the equivocation of Barack Obama.

My money's on The Gipper. 

Just thought you might like to know.