Seriously worth reading. I do not agree with everything here (rarely do) but on the whole this is a thought provoking article.
Its the same but different man.
"History never repeats itself but it rhymes" ~ Mark Twain
Asked if they would favor “rationing of gas, meat, and electricity” to fight climate change, 89 percent of Ivy Leaguers said yes, as against 28 percent of regular people. Asked if they would personally pay $500 more in taxes and higher costs to fight climate change, 75 percent of the Ivy Leaguers said yes, versus 25 percent of everyone else. “Teachers should decide what students are taught, as opposed to parents” was a statement with which 71 percent of the Ivy Leaguers agreed, nearly double the share of average citizens. “Does the U.S. provide too much individual freedom?” More than half of Ivy Leaguers said yes; just 15 percent of ordinary mortals did. The elite were roughly twice as fond as everyone else of members of Congress, journalists, union leaders, and lawyers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 88 percent of the Ivy Leaguers said their personal finances were improving, as opposed to one in five of the general population.
Dang
A bogus ideology that hardly anyone really believes in, but everyone has to parrot unless they want to be labeled dissidents—sorry, I mean deplorables? Check. A population that no longer regards patriotism, religion, having children, or community involvement as important? Check. How about a massive disaster that lays bare the utter incompetence and mendacity that pervades every level of government? For Chernobyl, read Covid. And, while I make no claims to legal expertise, I think I recognize Soviet justice when I see—in a New York courtroom—the legal system being abused in the hope not just of imprisoning but also of discrediting the leader of the political opposition.
Yup
Writer doesn't mention the NSA which was built to fight the USSR. It has become something the Soviets could only dream of.
They do broach
Yet we also need to contemplate the possibility that we have done this to ourselves—just as the Soviets did many of the same things to themselves. It was a common liberal worry during the Cold War that we might end up becoming as ruthless, secretive, and unaccountable as the Soviets because of the exigencies of the nuclear arms race. Little did anyone suspect that we would end up becoming as degenerate as the Soviets, and tacitly give up on winning the cold war now underway.
It was exposed for the world to see and yet it remains. I suspect little has changed. Legalities were simply routed around.
The US has two parties in the US instead of the one in the USSR.
The US limits central planning. Instead the US regulates smaller business out of the market so there are only a few players which are easier to manage but still can grow.
The US is more subtle with its empire building. Speaking publicly about the will of the people while using debt and military defense to control rulers across the globe. All under the banner of democracy when in reality global corporations are pulling many of the strings and make massive profits off of markets the US has its thumb on.
This also seems clear to me.
The question that haunts me is: What if China has learned the lessons of Cold War I better than we have? I fear that Xi Jinping has not only understood that, at all costs, he must avoid the fate of his Soviet counterparts. He has also, more profoundly, understood that we can be maneuvered into being the Soviets ourselves. And what better way to achieve that than to “quarantine” an island not too far from his coastline and then defy us to send a naval expedition to run the blockade, with the obvious risk of starting World War III? The worst thing about the approaching Taiwan Semiconductor Crisis is that, compared with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the roles will be reversed. Biden or Trump gets to be Khrushchev; XJP gets to be JFK. (Just watch him prepping the narrative, telling European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Washington is trying to goad Beijing into attacking Taiwan.)
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If you've enjoyed this piece, consider reading Jonah Goldberg's rebuttal. In essence, while Goldberg agrees on many points, he also believes that Ferguson's comparisons and analogies go too far, and fail at capturing the nuances and highlighting the moral superiority of the US. He concludes with this quote:
“To say that we and the Soviet Union are to be compared is the equivalent of saying that the man who pushes the old lady into the way of an oncoming bus, and the man who pushes the old lady out of the way of an oncoming bus, are both people who push old ladies around.”
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What a weak rebuttal there is nothing in there, either wrong or twisted arguments the whole piece while agreeing 90% with the original article. So pretty much a good a academic exercise (i.e., meaningless babbling)
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Please... What an absurd response to this article. I didn't read Ferguson's piece as the people of the US are as bad as the people of the USSR. I also didn't read it as the governments are on the same level.
I would summarize that when you are fighting something be careful that you don't become what you hate. I think the US government has been on that path since the cold war.
All that said, I haven't read Goldberg response yet.
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Goldberg is a waste of time. No one cares about his opinions. He has zero demand in the marketplace for pundits.
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I read "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left" by him many years ago. Was interesting but I was in a very different place with my world view.
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I have to intervene as a 'friend'
Ferguson is good but Jonah Goldberg and the dispatch are pathetic Never Trump Republicans without an audience.
Jonah is more knowledge than intelligence, once in a while he gets lucky and say something insightful like a broken clock twice a day
Stop reading Jonah Goldberg and Dispatch
Regarding his quote, Niall is comparing the Democrats and left wing apparatchiks to the old Soviet Union Politburo and Pravda
Democrats have embraced Kremlinology
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I didn't want to say it first, but I found that Goldberg was just nitpicking...
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Dang, it sure is nitpicking. I mean I could nitpick it as well but the main thread is spot on.
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That's what he does because he can't contribute anything of substance
Lost a lot of respect for him in 2017
I didn't mind he didn't vote for Trump but he hated Trump personally
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Goldberg is an establishment guy. I haven't read anything from him in years because he seemed like a mouth piece for the neocons to me. The neocons hate Trump because he doesn't really have ideals and doesn't play their game. I'm not Trump fan but his brash approach and ability to garner support exposes the truth in those that hate him. Those in his party and those in other parties. Its one of the more fascinating things to observe as a politically disenfranchised person.
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Something similar has happened to a calcified America under President Joe Biden. Like the late-stage Brezhnev, Biden is now a president in name only. He has outsourced his administration to a vestigial hard-left apparat from the Obama years.
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Great Article! Thanks for sharing!
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A very thought provoking article! Thanks for sharing!
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very funny southpark excerpt linked in the video: the end of obesity 😂
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Many good points and very thought provoking indeed, quite rare these these days, thank you for sharing
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