The otherwise anemic news media has almost united to conspicuously celebrate, with iron rich blood, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union some twenty years.
Of course the detail is largely visual with a simple narrative of American good prevailing over communist evil and includes the optimism of the moment, the sense that anything was possible. Yes, its seemed without the menace of the Soviet Union gone forever that the United States could now divert its resources to the purposes of peace and prosperity. Yet it all was squandered and the Pentagon budget relentlessly climbed.
The optimism and triumphalism of that moment, and in particular Reagan'prideful strutting, seems even more cartoonish and idiotic than it did then. Today the one and only superpower is poised for failure in two overwrought wars that never would have happened in a world led by competent leaders.
Or course the Republicans were optimistic back twenty years ago and said, "Anything is possible!" Today the Republicans are pessimists and ask, "Is anything possible?", then answer, "No!" Of course it is not only they who are pessimistic, but it is the Republicans and Republican-like Democrats who led us to this precipice of pessimism.
What happened between the end of the Cold War, when the United States seemed on top of the world, and today when the United States is in chaos, crisis and sometimes seems on the edge of civil war? Perhaps it suggests that the opportunities of that moment, twenty years ago, were not seized by American leaders. The benefits of the once obvious "peace dividend" never emerged because the United States was revealed to be something of a military dictatorship, at least when it comes to spending more and more on the military regardless of the existence or nonexistence of external military threats.
Of course the comprador bourgeoisie of the United States continued to transfer production to lands with the greatest rates of exploitation, China, Indonesia, etc.. Consequently American workers
ultimately wound up with lower wages and fewer jobs to go around. This is the most powerful reason for the decline of the United States which is becoming more of an enforcer for the international bourgeoisie than a tool of U. S. national bourgeoisie.
Of course the detail is largely visual with a simple narrative of American good prevailing over communist evil and includes the optimism of the moment, the sense that anything was possible. Yes, its seemed without the menace of the Soviet Union gone forever that the United States could now divert its resources to the purposes of peace and prosperity. Yet it all was squandered and the Pentagon budget relentlessly climbed.
The optimism and triumphalism of that moment, and in particular Reagan'prideful strutting, seems even more cartoonish and idiotic than it did then. Today the one and only superpower is poised for failure in two overwrought wars that never would have happened in a world led by competent leaders.
Or course the Republicans were optimistic back twenty years ago and said, "Anything is possible!" Today the Republicans are pessimists and ask, "Is anything possible?", then answer, "No!" Of course it is not only they who are pessimistic, but it is the Republicans and Republican-like Democrats who led us to this precipice of pessimism.
What happened between the end of the Cold War, when the United States seemed on top of the world, and today when the United States is in chaos, crisis and sometimes seems on the edge of civil war? Perhaps it suggests that the opportunities of that moment, twenty years ago, were not seized by American leaders. The benefits of the once obvious "peace dividend" never emerged because the United States was revealed to be something of a military dictatorship, at least when it comes to spending more and more on the military regardless of the existence or nonexistence of external military threats.
Of course the comprador bourgeoisie of the United States continued to transfer production to lands with the greatest rates of exploitation, China, Indonesia, etc.. Consequently American workers
ultimately wound up with lower wages and fewer jobs to go around. This is the most powerful reason for the decline of the United States which is becoming more of an enforcer for the international bourgeoisie than a tool of U. S. national bourgeoisie.
The United States focused on invading Iraq and Afghanistan as well as promoting a remarkably delusional plan which included worldwide subservience to the whims of Washington.
G. W. Bush wrecked the credibility of United States leadership. Europe and Asia are rising. Latin America has stood up. The American Century is over.
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