But how much of those threats were trumped up? Mikhail Gorbachev in a revealing moment seemed a little disoriented when confronted with the term "communism." The word had been thrust in Americans' faces for years. Was it just our military industrial complex at work? Convincing us there was an evil adversary that always required vigilance and more importantly, an ever-more bloated defense budget?
So we went to war against communism in southeast Asia? Americans were constantly advised how there were shadowy forces around the globe, forces that just happened to be sympathetic to collectivism. Collectivism would be the arch enemy of the American drive to amass wealth and to remind the less fortunate of their shortcomings. Darwinism in a way.
Gorbachev sort of shrugged when asked about "communism" and said it was merely a manifestation of organized crime. Would make total sense, I guess, or let's just say it's elementary: Any time a country's leaders are not democratically chosen, you could say the ruling system is the equivalent of organized crime.
We might be vigilant right now in our USA, in terms of protecting democracy, in light of how the Voting Rights Act was sort of neutered by the Supreme Court, and Republicans nationally are doing what they can to suppress the vote in order to retain the power they have. Republicans are about 47 percent of the population now. They are scared in light of that. Some tricks are needed for Republicans to continue holding forth.
You might argue that people are stupid voting for Democrats because Democrats just want to give away stuff. You can argue the point but you must continue respecting democracy. If you're so certain of your correctness, so certain of how Republican principles benefit the whole of society, get into the arena of ideas and simply try to persuade.
But the Republican Party of America in 2021 has fallen from its perch of admirable ideals, the ideals that have long powered National Review magazine. It is perilously close to being nothing but a personality cult. You might shake your head and think we're already there.
Whither America? But it's not our first crisis. So I'm thinking back to the 1960s, my growing-up years. And it is so profoundly sad to juxtapose the joy of our popular culture then - the TV and movie entertainment and our music - with the utter indescribable horror of the Vietnam war.
"Be very afraid"
The specter of communism was out there, we were told by the likes of Legion and VFW commanders with their funny little hats and pot bellies. When the war faded into a mess of defeat and disillusion, these people grew quiet and confused. Young people slowly put thoughts of the war aside and got on with the real productive business of their lives.
I was too young to be a candidate for the draft. But it's possible that the Cold War affected me profoundly anyway. Seriously. How? Our American education system decided it had to really push kids toward ever greater academic achievement, a sophisticated level of knowledge, as a means of "beating the Russians." Technically it was the USSR but we referred to the Russians as in the movie "The Russians are Coming." The movie was a powerful satire on the paranoid stance of so many Americans relative to some foreign countries that chose to live different from us.
The U.S. education system itself was probably glad to be put in this position, because its coffers could be filled so readily. It was all to "beat the Russians." The effort was horribly misplaced.
It is fine and wonderful to nurture the very most intelligent American youth this way. The problem is when we decide as a matter of principle that all youth have the potential to become eminent scholars. I can only look back and feel bitter. I am now age 66 and life is increasingly in my rear view mirror. So I guess I'm feeding the pigeons though not literally.
But any potential for self-esteem I might have had really got crushed when I was in the public school. It isn't like that any more, is it? It's not like a prison any more, is it? I mean, where you'd need a few extra seconds to get organized at your locker and then face the wrath of a fire-breathing teacher if you were a bit late for class? Our parents must have thought that was OK. Our fathers had probably been through boot camp so what the heck?
The military draft died a long time ago. Donald Trump for all his ignorance still says "to heck with fighting foreign wars" which shows, I guess, that a broken clock is still right twice a day.
I couldn't handle algebra. I just didn't get it. I could have been waterboarded and said "thank you" by comparison. Why did I have to go through that? I had cognitive issues with math and science classes, starting in the seventh or eighth grade. This did not make me a bad person. But I never had any problem with basic arithmetic. I had a savant-like skill when it came to reading and writing, or was it that my mom just pushed me in this? Give Mom the credit.
I am bitter and I cannot live my life over again. So it was the "commies" that laid the groundwork for this, by forcing the U.S. and its military industrial complex to go into overdrive. It dragged our big monopolistic public education system with it. Hey, big government can fight and win wars as it did in glorious World War II, right? So let's employ it in education. Except that approach sucked.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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