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No, I wasn't a communist, but life seemed
more adventurous and fun when communism was around. James Bond
movies were better. We had a good reason to give the Defense
Department billions of dollars for Star Trek type weapons. And
best of all, we Americans had someone to hate.
Granted, communism was a bad thing, and it
would appear today that the entire communist ideology was failure.
However with communism, you didn't have wars breaking out all
over the globe because communism helped to keep those things
under-control.
Life seemed a lot simpler then too. The United
States had purpose during the Cold War. We were the defenders
of the free world, and they were the enemies-the Russians (and
maybe the Chinese). The United States has since then lost that
purpose. We still try in places like Bosnia and Kosovo, but it's
just not the same-in fact, it only makes us feel worse.
With communism, we knew exactly who had the
nuclear weapons, who were our friends, and where the lines were
drawn. But today, who knows. Everywhere you look, little Third
World nations are developing nuclear weapons while their people
starve. Even though the world lived on the brink of nuclear war
for 40 years, there was still some stability and order. All of
this is greatly absent today.
During the Cold War, we didn't have to pay
Russian salaries. Today, we do because we're afraid Russian scientists
will sell their skills to more little power hungry countries
that would love to park a nuke in front of the White House.
Communism helped to create a lot of jobs here
in the states. We were always busy finding new ways to do things
and create new products and materials just so we could stay ahead
of the Reds.
People make the argument, and probably rightfully
so, that with communism gone the world can take a great step
forward toward peace. Can we, and did we? Little wars are breaking
out all over the place. It's absolutely amazing, give people
their freedom from a repressive regime, and the first thing they
do is start killing each other. It doesn't make any sense. What's
happening in Kosovo would be similar if the people in Lancaster
started killing the people in York. Insane and shallow, isn't
it?
So, believe it or not communism had it's ups.
You're probably saying, "What about the Chinese, they're
communist won't they do?"
Yes, the Chinese are communist, but it's just
not the same. A Russian was big and scary looking, while the
Chinese are cute and cuddly. Look at the Olympics, how can you
hate a foot-foot-tall Chinese gymnast? It just doesn't feel right
In the end, it probably boils down to one
simple reason as to why we miss communism. How can you have light
without darkness, yin but no yan? The harmony and balance is
lost. The United States is left wondering, "What now?"
Maybe we could look into bringing back communism
for small limited amounts of time. I can see it now, "This
week only, Communism-bigger and badder than ever. Act fast because
this is a limited time offer!!"
People would have someone to hate for a week,
get it out of their systems, and then be able to go on with their
lives. The United States could make some mean accusations about
human rights, the Russians could talk about Western decadence.
People would go to bed scared and then at
the end of the week everyone would kiss and makeup. Government
leaders would be called heroes for diffusing the situation.
We'd have purpose again-even if for a limited
time. But that just might just do it. It looks like a win-win
situation.
At the very least, we should consider the
possibility of bringing real hard-core Communism back for the
Olympics-it might be more exciting and worth watching.
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