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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (287914)	8/18/2002 4:39:20 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769667

Re: "Ending the Cold War is not really the kind of accomplishment that can be over-rated." >>> AGREED BIG TIME!!!!! If, in fact, Communism's collapse wasn't an historical inevitability anyway by the time Reagan assumed office because of the economic failure of the Soviet system. >>> President's always take credit for things they have little control over anyway, so... nothing new there. >>> I seriously doubt that our wasted multi-billions on a so-far failed (NOTHING from the Reagan admin. ever made it to deployment) Star Wars project had anything real to do with the collapse of Communism... though it made for a nice sound bite. >>> Perhaps our financing of the insurgents in Afghanistan helped to accelerate the decline and fall of the decrepid Soviet-era leadership - the war was certainly unpopular enough among the youth in Russia - but since the similarly unpopular Vietnam war didn't cause the collapse of the American system I believe it's safe to say that ultimately it was the fundamental strength and vitality of our economic system that propelled us past the Soviet challenge... which throws it back on the relative strengths of Capitalism and Democracy vs. the failures of Communism and Totalitarianism. >>> None of which can be solely (or even in major part) attributed to a single occupant of the White House. >>> It could even be argued, I suppose, that Reagan's spendthrift ways with his fanciful (or, at least, 'too technologically advanced for the times') Star Wars boondoggle... and subsequent federal deficits towering sky high in his second term, did NOT advance the Soviet collapse... because they REDUCED the productive advantage the US economy would have had if investments had been made more productively.