WELCOME TO THE GULAG

By M. Martin
© 2004, All Rights Reserved

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Much of the history of the 20 century was dominated by the conflict between two superpowers—
The United States and The Soviet Union. In retrospect, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
consequent unchecked domination of the United States seems inevitable. A superpower in little
more than name, the USSR maintained its standing in the world by virtue of a nuclear arsenal, a
large standing army, and its unhesitating willingness to deploy either.

Economically, it was a nation crippled by a centrally-planned economy run on the basis of rigid
ideology. Scientifically and technologically, the same ideology crippled innovation and
development. It is no accident that every major piece of military and aerospace hardware
developed in Cold War-Era Russia bore a striking resemblance to equivalent technologies
developed in The West.

Socially, the country suffered from the persecution and disenfranchisement of its academic and
intellectual classes. The suppression of free discourse resulted in cynicism and detachment on
the part of the very people an advanced society most depends upon.

Politically, the inertia of a single-party system made it impossible for leadership to admit, much
less recove r from, strategic and policy errors. The single biggest such error was the Soviet
Union’s disastrous attempt at nation-building in Afghanistan. The consequence of a poorly-
planned interventionist adventure in an Islamic country had far more to do with the collapse of the
Soviet Union than any single action undertaken by the United States, including the confused
policies of Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Hmmm…..single-party system…..faith-based ideology in place of facts….misguided military

interventionism…..is any of this beginning to sound familiar?

Much was said and written regarding the potential for disaster implicit in a second term of office
for George W. Bush (the term “re-election” remains inapplicable). A majority of the American
electorate chose to ignore these warnings--although, in the case of written admonitions, the word
“ignore” may be optimistic. Current statistics on the reading comprehension abilities of average
Americans are not encouraging. Many of those who voted may simply share their preferred
leader’s seeming inability to process print media. Whatever the reason, slightly over half of those
who voted in the recent election chose to retain the current administration.

In my view, this choice hastens America on its way to becoming this century’s Soviet Union.
Take away the USSR’s rigid adherence to Marxism, regardless of contrary facts. Substitute the
evangelically-fuelled right-wing extremism of our current president. Functionally, they are an
exact match. It is extremely optimistic to suppose that the consequences of ideology-driven
policy will be any less disastrous for the USA now than they were for the USSR then.

The one area where the analogy breaks down is in the role of the populace. The general
population of the USSR/Russia has, to this day, not had the opportunity for self-determination this
nd
country squandered on November 2 . In this case, a better analogy is Nazi Germany, where the
German people willingly and enthusiastically chose to follow Adolf Hitler in a national mission that
turned out to be a national abyss.
One might argue that the analogy between the USA and USSR also breaks down in that there
are no competing superpowers to the America of George Bush. This is not entirely the case.
Within a decade, either the European Union or China can be expected to match or exceed the
economic power of the United States (which will likely be paying off the Bush administration’s
debts for at least ten years). One of the single largest areas of projected growth and
st
development in the 21 century is bio-technology. The refusal to examine stem-cell research in
an objective light does not bode well for this country’s ability to compete in this critical area.
Countries not hindered by the need to have scientific research approved by mullahs or Jerry
Falwell will rightfully and deservedly prosper in the decades to come.

There is another frightening area of comparison between the USSR that was and the USA that is
coming to be: isolationism. One of the single biggest distinctions between Americans and the
citizens of other countries is that the citizens of other countries experience other countries.
Americans, like Russians of the last century, rarely leave their homeland. There is a nativist
streak in the American character almost as broad as the streak of anti-intellectualism so
thoroughly revealed in the recent election. Taken in tandem, these traits mean that Americans
participate increasingly less in the world community of ideas and culture. Even those of us who
wish to embrace the world outside the United States increasingly find it difficult to do so.

The potential consequences of US unilateralism and isolationism go far beyond the crippling
costs of the current misadventure in Iraq. The only major industrial nation in the world that
refuses to acknowledge the effects of global warming may well at some point find itself subject to
economic sanctions and boycotts. A nation that preemptively invades other countries and
refuses to accept the authority of the UN Court of Crimes Against Humanity may well at some
point simply be judged in advance and in all cases as a nation that condones war crime.

The single biggest failure of the Bush Administration was to not capitalize on the enormous
solidarity the United States had with the civilized world following 9/11. The single biggest failure
of the American people in recent years has been to let the fears engendered by that horrific event
sway them into supporting a dangerous and misguided leadership. The days since the American
people gave George Bush a second term of office have been marked by gloating, acrimony,
finger-pointing and despair—none of which accomplishes anything. It is no longer possible to
regard the presidency of George W. Bush as a mere “aberration”. No one can possibly
misunderstand Mr. Bush’s aims or agenda—they are as simple as the man himself. All that
remains at this point to either embrace that agenda, fight it, or—as the old saying goes—“vote
with your feet.”

Myself? I’m going to start learning French.