re: #158 HappyWarrior
Best statement I’ve seen in a while. I would add that about the Cold War too. Too often we just chose whoever was Anti-Communist rather than who had a genuine support for human rights. And frankly it’s what has led to many problems.
The US record in the cold war was abysmal. The Berlin airlift and Marshall plan were clearly good actions, and the Korean war is also a net credit. But the negatives (e.g., Vietnam, Iran, Chile, Cuba, etc.) were appalling.
Pretty early on, the failure of communism to deliver on its promises was clear to anyone except blinkered zealots. With that background, the ideological victory vs. communism could be won simply by making capitalism work well enough for a large enough fraction of the population.
As we’ve seen since the fall of the USSR, this is apparently too much to ask.