"reality check." >> 30 years ago this weekend, the berlin wall fell, and the world changed. it felt like the future was endlessly bright. the cold war had been won without firing a shot and an evil empire was ending. it was a celebration about libration and the rise of liberal democracy, what seemed like a new consensus elevating individuals over ideological successes. the gaps between the hopes of 1989 and the facts of 2019 are stark. we've gone from tearing down walls to building them. from autocrats being on the run to autocratics on the rise. with states secured by fear and greed while democracy itself seems in retreat. the liberal idea has been declared dead by a former kgp officer who has been president of russia. someone who called the end of the soviet union the 20th century's greatest tragedy. while one time liberal student