I never thought the Soviets would disband, and I surely don’t think the Americans would.
That’s just it. 30 years ago, no one foresaw the breakup of the Soviet Union. History, and political events, have a habit of sandbagging us.
Perhaps it turned out that opposing the Soviet Union provided the glue that held America together, with the Soviet Union gone, we have struggled to figure out just what it is we stand for.