Bruce Westerman: “As we witness an evil empire trying to remake itself, I reflect on Mrs. Bolin's first grade class in my tiny rural…”

“As we witness an evil empire trying to remake itself, I reflect on Mrs. Bolin's first grade class in my tiny rural school in the heartland of America and, as a 6-year-old living during the Cold War, trying to understand how crouching under a desk as part of our nuclear attack drill would save anyone. The simple truth is, it wouldn't. Crouching, hiding, and being intimidated only emboldens Communists. Standing up strong is how you beat the evils of communism. Last year, I had the great experience of standing at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where Ronald Reagan spoke those famous words in 1987: ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'' Remarkably, less than 2\1/2\ years later, that wall came down, and by the end of 1991, the evil Soviet empire had dissolved. The Soviet Union was gone, but the seeds of the evil in the Communist government of Russia and other parts of the world still remain. As brave Ukrainians are fighting a David and Goliath type battle of survival, we must stand strong and create a long-term plan to crush the Russian energy grip on Europe and our allies. Energy revenue feeds the Russian beast, and we have the resources and the technology to starve it to death. Only a few years ago, the United States became energy independent. But my, how quickly things have changed. On his first day in office, President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline that could have reduced our reliance on Russian oil. But it is not just Keystone. All U.S.…”