|
The problem I have with Reagan is he is credited with the fall of Communism, something that started with the Russian-Afghani War in the 1970s. Now, granted, the Commies did fall apart during his tenure due to economic stress. But can he personally be credited with the economic situation that ended the Commies? That's like saying Clinton personally burst the blue-chip bubble in the 90's, or Hoover caused the Great Depression. Fact is, presidents have little to no impact on current economic situations (excluding FDR..he put his nose in everything...). They can push for legislature, but that's about it. Bush can tout the new social security plan, but that's up to 537 other people to decide. Reagan did not destroy Communism. Congress did through unhindered military spending based on a plan that had come from the huge decline of post-Vietnam military prestige. The JCS and head honchos in the military wanted to make a name for themselves in the world as a reliable, powerful, and dominating force. Congress liked the idea, conviced Reagan, (not the other way around) and boom, huge deficits, a smaller inflation rate, the world's largest Navy, blah blah...history.
What people tend to forget is what we paid for abroad...
The reason the CCCP fell was its economy; our containment plan was just to large to defend because we made sacrifices at home. But within that shortsighted containment plan we made our biggest mistake. Who did we help out to rid the world of Communism? You all know, Saddam, Osama...but that's a completely different story.
The reason I say that is because in the fight to destroy Communism we made even more enemies, regardless of the validity of their reasons of hating us. I hate to say it, but with Communists in Russia, the world was stabler. They used strong-arm tactics to keep their territories in control (Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Afghanistan), which kept relative peace (however inhumane), and with the nuclear Mexican standoff, there was actually a safety net. No one would actually push the button in offense unless prompted otherwise (large, world-wars included).
We may have defeated Russian Communism, but in doing so, we lost face in a world defined by ever-increasing polarization. We may be the most stable superpower, but they still hate us for leaving them behind for our own prosperity. Also, in the declination of CCCP, the WMDs that kept Americans up at night were kept under the loosest watch, and now we are afraid of terrorists getting their hands on these WMDs and using them against us, without us knowing when or where. We could check on the Russians to see what they were up to. But now, it's increasingly more and more difficult to track the enemies. Guerilla warfare's a nasty thing.
In our economic stranglehold that destroyed CCCP, we changed the way the military fights, our international respect (let's face it, no one likes the rich guy), and increased our "US haters". Conventional war is out the window now, and everyone is paying for the shortsighted plan to "outspend" the enemy.
_________________ 
|
Log in
Wiki
FAQ
Search
