Eh, forgot: DoDo's article.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

It is now official:

WE ARE IN SERIOUS SHIT!

The day someone starts agreeing with me is a DEFINITE sign of the End Times.  Drinks on Me!

They tried to assimilate me. They failed.

In a similar vein, the Cuban revolution was responsible for US instigated land reform (albeit timid and limited) in parts of Latin America.  Does anyone remember the prophetic words of Herbert Matthews?:

One might say Fidel Castro was like Pandora.  The box was there and all the troubles were in it - and he opened the box.  Latin America is moving fast, and not necessarily with us or toward us.  The social and economic pressures have revolutionary possibilities.  Our policies to date have not been successful.  They have been too negative, too little, too closely tied to dictators and to small ruling classes who will become victims of the new social pressures if they do not move quickly and make necessary reforms.  Stability and the status quo are dreams of the past.  We have lost the Cuba we knew and dominated, or influenced so greatly.  Our relations with Cuba will never be the same , even when they become friendly again, as they must. (Herbert L. Matthews, The Cuban Story, New York: Braziller, 1961, p. 273)

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

The logic of this argument (which I largely agree with) is that the demise of the Soviet Union and defeat of "Marxism" also meant that the ruling elite could end the Truce in the class war and start taking on the working classes again without fear of revolution.  Hence the Reagan/Thatcher counter-revolution and 30 years of impoverishing the working classes - otherwise known as the Anglo disease.

The French Revolution has a similar effect - emboldening American revolutionaries and encouraging the British imperial elite to make some democratic concessions to the masses - for fear of revolution at home.

"It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."

Erm, I think that places a little too much weight behind the New Deal.  America was never, in my opinion, in danger of a communist revolution.  Fascism has always been, and will always be, the greater internal threat, as I think the last eight years have demonstrated, and as was demonstrated even in Roosevelt's time.

Europe was more balanced.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.