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Why Mikhail Gorbachev is a cautionary tale for the United States
NBC News / Comcast ^ | September 1, 2022 | By Lincoln Mitchell, political analyst

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: democratnarrative; gorbachev; leftistechochamber; morelibbullschist
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Lincoln Mitchell is a political analyst and author. He teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and is an adjunct research scholar in the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.
1 posted on 09/01/2022 1:31:34 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Both places he works are sinks of tax & donors. They produce learned “tomes” of “unreality” based on political biases.


2 posted on 09/01/2022 1:37:00 PM PDT by Reily
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

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.


3 posted on 09/01/2022 1:37:35 PM PDT by Westbrook (The Democrats are wizards at two things: Finding votes and losing evidence.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
What he is basically asking for is that the rules be changed to guarantee a one party Democrat state for the foreseeable future, i.e. something resembling the Soviet Union.

If that is ever allowed to happen, then we will be praying for a Gorbachev.

4 posted on 09/01/2022 1:38:50 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Mothers, don’t let your kids go to Columbia U., it taint worth it let alone anywhere safe!


5 posted on 09/01/2022 1:46:14 PM PDT by SES1066 (More & more it looks like Brandon's best decision was Kamala! UGH!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

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.


6 posted on 09/01/2022 1:48:04 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
To see who speaks/writes;

Such a fine insouciant grin, close to a sneer even! Academic ivory tower master of the masses!

7 posted on 09/01/2022 1:51:03 PM PDT by SES1066 (More & more it looks like Brandon's best decision was Kamala! UGH!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

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?


8 posted on 09/01/2022 1:53:19 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

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.


9 posted on 09/01/2022 1:53:37 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
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.

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."

10 posted on 09/01/2022 2:01:18 PM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

A leftest through and through.


11 posted on 09/01/2022 2:01:58 PM PDT by Don Corleone (leave the gun, take the canolis)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Thanks for smearing sh!t on the walls.


12 posted on 09/01/2022 2:03:26 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Marxist bastard is just sad his beloved ussr fell.


13 posted on 09/01/2022 2:04:02 PM PDT by cowboyusa (America Cowboy up!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

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.


14 posted on 09/01/2022 2:05:49 PM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
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To: 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.”

Lincoln Mitchell & NBC Nudes having one gigantic GORBASM in their weeklong Praise-A-Thon for all things Mikhail Gorbachev


15 posted on 09/01/2022 2:07:51 PM PDT by Tupelo (Don't under estimate the Republicans ability to f*** things up)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

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.


16 posted on 09/01/2022 2:08:25 PM PDT by poinq
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To: poinq

Reagan is the man the ended the cold war. I guess you were born yesterday.


17 posted on 09/01/2022 2:09:12 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: poinq
Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II ended the Cold War.

Gorbachev had the good sense to see that communism had failed, and was softening the blow when it came.

18 posted on 09/01/2022 2:11:39 PM PDT by Ciaphas Cain (#notmypedophile)
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To: Paal Gulli

” ... 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.


19 posted on 09/01/2022 2:19:04 PM PDT by riverdawg (Wells Fargo is my bank and I have no complaints.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
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.

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.

20 posted on 09/01/2022 2:35:57 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (The government sees you as either livestock or pet. If things get bad they will eat their pets too.)
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