We may have lost the Cold War. The Cold War was fought for nearly fifty years and the issue was whether a commercial society could provide a more appealing life than a centrally planned society. When the walls containing the subjects of the centrally planned society came down … the war was ostensibly over and commerce had won.
In the fifteen years since the end of the Cold War there has been some minor global change in the interpretation of the Cold War issues (mostly in New Zealand, Israel and Denmark.) Many of the formerly subjugated countries have renounced their forced conversion to Soviet central planning.
Most significant is that domestically, in the U.S, we have not changed our views. The Left .....
The left, the supporters of the failed centrally planned society, have become more intransigent, more filled with clinical hatred for the outcome of the war and more ideologically fanatic in their self righteous views.
Does this remind you of anything? It reminds me of the aftermath of the Civil War.
Though the North won the military war, the South won the ideological war.
Think about what I (and probably you) were taught about the Civil War: (1) While slavery was a key issue, states rights was a major reason for the war. (2) Northern Carpetbaggers invaded the defeated South and brought corruption and incompetence in government with them. (3) The North won the war because of economic superiority. (4) The South had the bravest and most competent military force, by far. (5) The Confederate states had a civic society based on chivalry, honor and high moral standards.
Not one of these statements is even 5% true. They are wholly wrong in part and in whole. But those lies have been taught in all Northern Public schools because the Confederacy won the ideological aftermath of the Civil War.
Remember, there was no 100th anniversary celebration of the Civil War, either its start or its finish, nor was the assassination of Abraham Lincoln remembered, because the ideological components of the Civil War were still raging in 1964.
I believe that, just as the Confederacy won the ideological outcome of the Civil War, the Left is winning the ideological aftermath of the Cold War. I can only vaguely see the outlines of the new ideological position. Please help me with this
The emerging Lefty view of the Cold War is: (1) Commerce didn’t win; the Soviet Union lost the Cold War because of its military adventurism in Afghanistan and its overextended military. (2) The commercial victors did nothing to help the losers after the war except gloat and bully other countries. (3) Socialism remains a major and vital force in the world to help the poor, downtrodden and helpless. It is morally superior to commerce. (4) Commerce is no different from central government planning --- commerce is run by corporate tyrants and an elite class solely for their own interests.
Is that what our great grandchildren will be taught in public schools. Isn’t that what our children are being taught in nearly every college and university in America --- right now?