Communism

Replacing ground forces with the threat of nuclear attacks on population centers, and that's all the early weapons were good for, was a choice, and choices imply responsibility. Had the US proposed a ban on nukes in 1946 it's likely
everybody else would have accepted and we would be on much more solid moral ground when someone decides to start a nuclear weapons programme than we are now. The USA (and if the decision comes from the politicians or the voters is irrelevant) chose not to, and now we have we have to live with the consequences.

While the number of warheads has gone down from cold war levels the threat to mankind has far from disappeared, some warhead grade material has "apparently gone missing", the process of destruction of the excess weapons has a lot of risks and costs, and many additional countries have decided to build nukes making greatly increasing the possibility of someone "pressing the button".

Another worrisome trend is the loss of prestige of the nuclear forces, especially in the US but quite possibly in Russia as well, this is likely attracting lower quality "human material" to them and smaller maintenance budgets, a very scary trend.

The above are "suspicions", as there is still a lot of secrecy around the nuclear forces we do not really know what the status of the nuclear forces is, some reports imply the number of truly operational warheads/delivery systems is a lot smaller than the generally quoted figures, personally I don't see this uncertainty as a good thing as uncertainty leads to fear and fear can lead to very bad decisions, but .... it's just my opinion here.

 

Not only that, but if an individual was for civil rights for African-Americans and was friends with them, Immediatley they were put on Hoover's suspect list as a fellow traveler!

 

It is still that way.....its just not Hoover doing it.
I have 2 journalist friends on the "no fly/watch list".
Coming in to, or leaving from the USA is a MAJOR effort. Any electronic device they carry WILL be tossed in a microwave oven.
It takes an attorney many hours to get them movement.

 

I have no doubt that people are stuill put on "suspect list" but it's ceratinly not done for everyone who speaks out agains US foreigh policy, which is what Padutchgal was talking about I believe. Whether or not it is warreneted in the case of your friends is an open question at this point. I have seen people with secret clearances pulled asside because they were identified as being on the list (incorrectly by the way) so it's not at all clear what's happening here.

 

What Richard Nixon had to do with Democracy? Was Watergate a fault of Democracy? While Communism does indeed have to do with Stalin. What Stalin did in Russia is very similar to what Ulbritch did in Germany, Kim il Sun in Korea and Castro in Cuba. The way it was done has to do with the personality of the leader, but the end is the same.

 

Maybe this should get moved to the Stump?