Word: evil
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...BEEN DUBBED the President's Darth Vader" speech: in front of the National Association of Evangelicals. Ronald Reagan outlined America's divine mandate to combat the Soviet Union, the "focus of evil in the modern world. "He called it "an evil empire," and declared that he and his fellow Christian warriors "must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow...
...wise idea. Shortly after he came to power, analysts from, left, right and center pored through the life and speeches of Ronald Reagan, and all reached the same conclusions: When it comes to Communism, the man means what he says. He believes the Soviet Union is the embodiment of evil, and the United States the cradle of goodness...
There's nothing inherently wrong with drawing lines between good and evil: indeed, the President astutely interpreted the Bible by concluding that "There is sin and evil in the world, and we are enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might." But it is one thing to decry evil and another to identify its source. If we are to trust Reagan's ability to find and combat evil, it makes sense to check the man's track record on holding aloft the torch of freedom. It doesn't look good...
Take El Salvador, for example. On the same day the President announced his holy war against Soviet evil, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger '38 made public the Admistration's plan to send $110 million in military aid to El Salvador, twice the amount the White House had previously requested. But Weinberger and Reagan are wasting their time training Salvadoran government troops to crush the rebelling peasants: the regime's strongman, Roberto d' Aubuisson, has already made his wishes explicitly clear. "All I want from the USA is napalm," he has said. "We must destroy completely to achieve pacification...
...West is left with only one alternative--a renewed effort at detente. Even if we view the USSR as, to quote President Reagan, "the world's most evil force," a policy of coexistence and commerce can still be productive. At worst, detente will maintain the status quo and keep tensions to an acceptable level. At best, it might even produce some changes in Soviet foreign and domestic policy...