Posted on 09/01/2022 1:31:34 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
What seemed impossible to the rest of the world — the fall of the Soviet Union — only took six years under his leadership, a reminder of how temporary political systems can be. SNIP
The relevance of all of this to the U.S. is that over the last seven years, we have seen more political instability, threats of violence, talk of Civil War, political polarization and efforts to undermine key democratic institutions than at any other time in modern American history.
While the comparison between the U.S. today and the USSR in the early 1980s should not be overstated, it would be equally wrong to think the U.S. is the bastion of stability and democracy.
The possibility that American democracy could come to an end or that the U.S. could fall into irrevocable disunity and instability has not been this significant since the Civil War. The U.S., as Kamala Harris said when she accepted the nomination to be Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020, is at an “inflection point.”
Our political institutions and civil society are much stronger than those of the late Soviet Union, but that is not a guarantee that our democracy will survive. The speed with which the Soviet collapse went from unimaginable to a fait accompli to seen as inevitable should, at the very least, remind Americans of the fragility of our democracy.
It is certainly possible that within a few years, polarization in the U.S. will naturally decrease, the Republican Party will break with Donald Trump, and we will find ways to reform institutions like the Supreme Court, the Electoral College and the Senate, which are preventing much-needed reform. Still, one would have to be extremely pollyannaish to look at where we are now and think those outcomes are likely.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Both places he works are sinks of tax & donors. They produce learned “tomes” of “unreality” based on political biases.
The Soviet Union fell, because the Soviet military REFUSED to fire on demonstrators and strikers who took to the streets to protest Gorbachev’s arrest.
I’m not sure U.S. citizens will be that lucky.
If that is ever allowed to happen, then we will be praying for a Gorbachev.
Mothers, don’t let your kids go to Columbia U., it taint worth it let alone anywhere safe!
All of Gorby’s actions trace back to the fact that the USSR was on the verge of economic collapse because they were spending an unsustainable 40% of their GDP to produce a military machine that was a pale second to what the USA was creating from just 6% of its GDP.
Such a fine insouciant grin, close to a sneer even! Academic ivory tower master of the masses!
The Soviets fell because of extreme top-down, ideologically based central planning, resulting in massive debt, economic waste, and the necessary social-engineering and repression of dissent when that central planning fails
Sound familiar?
If the Republican Party breaks with Trump it will be a sign that America is no longer worth saving. Trump fights, and we need that against the hideous strength now corrupting America.
Sounds to me like he believes that pure majoritarianism is the way to go, because he identifies only non-majoritarian institutions as standing in the way of "much needed (i.e.,leftist) reform."
A leftest through and through.
Thanks for smearing sh!t on the walls.
Marxist bastard is just sad his beloved ussr fell.
The Republican President who brought down the USSR, is being written out of history.
Gorbachev was the defeated opponent of Reagan, not the hero of the story.
“What seemed impossible to the rest of the world — the fall of the Soviet Union — only took six years under his leadership, a reminder of how temporary political systems can be.”
Lincoln Mitchell & NBC Nudes having one gigantic GORBASM in their weeklong Praise-A-Thon for all things Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was a great man who saved millions of lives by giving up before a war started. Mikhail Gorbachev like Lech Wałęsa and Pope John Paul 2nd were huge heros. Our state department and Russian government officals would not have been able to process Russia’s reset better and with as many saved lives.
Reagan is the man the ended the cold war. I guess you were born yesterday.
Gorbachev had the good sense to see that communism had failed, and was softening the blow when it came.
” ... they were spending an unsustainable 40% of their GDP to produce a military machine that was a pale second to what the USA was creating from just 6% of its GDP.”
I’ve seen an internal Soviet document allegedly leaked from a Politburo military defense committee that put the number at between 20% to 25% of GDP in the early 1980s. This is double what the CIA estimated at the time.
When does "modern" start? Because the 1960s were worse than now with bombings, political assassinations and attempted assassinations, riots and widespread protests against the Vietnam War. Other than AOC cowering in her closet during the January 6 unscheduled walking tour of the Capitol, we haven't come close to that yet.
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