Ninteen-Eighty-Nine
Ninteen-Eighty-Nine Though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire. –Thomas Paine We live in a time in which essential principles of democracy and liberty are under attack. Nationalist movements have gained popularity almost everywhere, as has support for authoritarian strongmen. Frightening this may be, but there is cause for hope, for we live in a world that for the past 30 years has been dramatically more free than at any point in human history. When the average Westerner is asked to name the most revolutionary year since the end of World War II, they likely name 1968, a year racked with political assassinations, massive anti-war protests in America and Europe, the invasion of Czechoslovakia. It remains a focal point for the American baby-boomer generation, and since they’ve dominated media attention their entire lives, it’s not surprising that we who came after them still key on that year. However, 1968 is a footnote in the annals o