A Liberal Mandate: Reflections on our Founding Vision and Rants on how we have Failed to Achieve it

“It was probably a foolish thing to do. No, it definitely was. I can’t say I didn’t know any better. After all, I had just graduated from college. I guess I was still in the immortal phase of my life.

So, the day following after President Kennedy’s speech officially triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis, I crossed Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin. I don’t remember if I had decided earlier to take a little field trip or whether I just wanted to imagine myself part of some internatio…