The identity of Deep Throat is revealed just in time. As ‘unidentified sources’ come under fire and whistleblowers are largely ignored, it makes me sad to think about how the truth came out about Nixon, and how the players have systematically worked to ensure it never happens again. Back in the 70s it was actually news when the government lied to the public. Today, lies are merely considered a cost of doing business. If a smoking gun surfaces in 2005, Republicans simply assume the messenger is lying and insist it’s all a conspiracy hatched by the satanic liberal media.
We have a memo that indicates Bush ‘fixed the facts’ to match the policy concerning Iraq. Reports clearly indicate that we were dropping bombs in September 2002, a month before Congress authorized invasion. This was to provoke Saddam into an action that would serve as justification for what was already destined to follow. When he didn’t take the bait, it was satellite photos of rooftops, intelligence from a shady alcoholic source named Curveball and a stream of lies about how Saddam had Armageddon at his fingertips. This information wasn’t offered up by an unidentified source.
America has strayed far from its roots as now what our children learn in school is regularly ignored. The Constitution our leaders are to uphold and defend has been replaced in principle with the office of the President. Loyalty to that office trumps all else, and the accepted idea poisoning our society at this very moment is that the flag has also been replaced with the President himself. We pledge allegiance to the leader, not the flag. Because Deep Throat was a traitor, and a whistleblower is as evil as the terrorists we’re at war with today. That little voice they hear telling them the public has a right to know the truth is Satan himself, and as such, damnation is the only outcome where justice can prevail. This is our country.
Spin it any way you like, we’ve taken a significant step back since the days of the Watergate scandal. It is that moment in our history where some politicians figured out that the best defense is a good offense. They’ve blamed the media for our failure in Vietnam, and have systematically worked to convince Republican voters that everything to come out of the New York Times and a number of other reputable news outlets are lies. The message is that these institutions have a blame-America first mentality, and this has evolved into a blame-Bush mentality over these past few years. They’ve committed acts of indecency, brutal crimes against the leader and his people. They are in violation of the gentleman’s agreement.
And like this, the impact a reporter can have on the government is neutralized. The whistleblower’s power is diminished. A three star general with 39 years of service can be labeled as disloyal to the leader and with a snap of the finger, his career ends with a demotion. The only people who can escape such a backlash are the media, but as Newsweek found out, that’s not true anymore either. Whereas a pharmaceutical company like Merck kills hundreds of people and the leader has his subordinates handle it, for the media entity he handles it personally. It’s often asked in organized crime investigations, ‘how much drugs/swag/money does it take to actually get the boss in the room?’ Indeed.
Corporate profits are tied in with the success of these media entities as the leader signs off on and puts regulation of the markets on his agenda. Take the prescription drug bill he passed first term for example. By denying the government the ability to bargain with drug companies for lower prices or import foreign medications, he handed out a significant reward. It’s simple in the sense that as long as the leader’s toes aren’t stepped on, you will be allowed to survive. So pledge allegiance to the leader, do and say what you’re told, and everything will be just fine.
Obviously you are a schill for the MSM, all us christian folk know the truth.
This post at polipundit makes your point pretty well, always blame the messenger. http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=8002
If a smoking gun surfaces in 2005, Republicans simply assume the messenger is lying and insist it’s all a conspiracy hatched by the satanic liberal media.
Do you blame them? Lyndon Johnson and ballot box 13, Dan Rather and CBS, Newsweek. The only way democrats get ahead is by fraud or entrapment.
You say republicans assume the messenger is lying but liberals will jump on the most obscure, remotely possible and conspiracy-friendly tid bit and plaster it everywhere as “evidence” of some wrong doing.
To come out and say conservatives defend themselves against the political attacks against them is a non-issue. What about Clinton’s “I did not have realtions with that woman” when we all know that was a lie.
The problem with the whole deep throat issue is this guy didn’t do the right thing. He helped liberals take doan a conservative public figure when he should have gone to the DOJ. Both sides were engaged in this James Bond type of spying on each other and the conservatives got caught first. This FBI guy was some sort of liberal agent when he should have been looking out for the country.
I don’t recall anyone breaking into the Republican party headquarters at that time. So your everyone does it argument is a little weak.
“He helped liberals take doan a conservative public figure” It really sucks when the facts make a conservative look bad, therefore they should be kept secret?
Just because something shows the republictims in a bad light does not mean it is bad to disclose it.
BTW it s nice to see you back right thinker, I thought maybe terrorists had gotten to your internet connection.
Just because something shows the republictims in a bad light does not mean it is bad to disclose it.
This guy is just another Linda Tripp. Are you happy with the way Linda played Monica and Bill? Again, it’s not the disclosure it’s the method and politics behind it. Ask Chris, he hates it when politics and lies get mixed in with the real events.
BTW it s nice to see you back right thinker, I thought maybe terrorists had gotten to your internet connection.
I THOUGHT THAT WAS YOU!!! Stay outa my garage!!!
“[T]he former World War II spy hunter liked the game. I suspect in his mind I was his agent. He beat it into my head: secrecy at all cost, no loose talk, no talk about him at all, no indication to anyone that such a secret source existed.”
Wow, it turns out this guy was some sort of nut job. Above is an exerpt from Woodward about Felt. Here’s the link.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158383,00.html
As Post Put It…
The Washington Post reported yesterday that after learning that Deep Throat was actually former FBI number-two Mark Felt — “former Nixon speechwriter Patrick J. Buchanan (search) labeled Felt a ‘traitor’ for having worked with reporters on stories that did severe damage to the administration.”
What’s more, while chatting with readers about it online later in the day, one Washington Post reporter called Buchanan’s reaction “darkly hilarious.” But Buchanan never called Felt a traitor. In fact, in an interview with Chris Matthews, Buchanan said that because Felt had no personal loyalty to Nixon, “I don’t consider him a traitor.” The Post has now issued a correction.
Because the messenger IS usually lying. See the last story in the link below.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158458,00.html
I watched that show and Buchanan called him a traitor from what I remember. Perhaps we can find a transcript somewhere. Buchanan had this theory that the FBI wasn’t investigating crimes but were just ‘satanic liberal operatives’ (i added satan) – but the point that is consistently ignored is this:
This is a convicted felon. Fox has a warm hug for him and Ollie North, which sends what kind of a message? They went to jail. But this type of crap:
That’s a crock! It’s an outright lie that people like Buchanan and Rush are telling, and a good number of people are allowing this to become true in their minds for political reasons. The war was already over 8 years old by the time Nixon went down, and it was a clusterf*ck.
This psychosis, the need for history to be what you want it to be rather than what it is…I saw David McCullough speak tonight and he mentioned this, not in the context of today, but about 1776 and how Washington had this ability to see things as they were and not just how he wanted them to be, and that made him a good leader.
A guy like Buchanan is brought on all these shows and he runs his mouth a lot, but like a lot of talkers, just makes it up as he goes along. How about comparing his position on the Terri Shiavo case and the Elian Gonzales case. He’ll make up anything at any point to stay in the mainstream, and this revisionist history concerning Watergate and Vietnam is proof positive.
If it wasn’t for Nixon and his crew breaking the law, Buchanan’s star may have risen higher and perhaps he’s never gotten over that. Because the idea that Deep Throat lost the Vietnam war is an absolute lie. Just like blaming the media for our failure there. The right-wing is already blaming the media and the Iraqis themselves for problems in that war.
It’s a habit.
And Right – you pick up one instance of a misquote and determine that they ‘ALL Lie’? Please…I could post a list two yards long in short time pointing out all the mistakes FoxNews has made this year alone. Do you ignore their lies?
Right – I’m not buying that Fox News article. They don’t indicate who wrote the article or post a link to the retraction.
I’m on the washington post site and started looking, then realized I’d be doing it for a good hour at least…there’s a lot of print on this story. If Fox really had this, why wouldn’t they post a link for it? It is an internet article afterall!
Right: Your garage was the only place I could afford while in Vegas.
My history is a little sketchy but I don’t think that Viet Nam was going really well prior to watergate, I know this is more a Pat Buchannon point, but I think that is the problem with conservatives they are very good at blaming someone else for thier problems.
I don’t blame Linda Tripp for Clintons problem, and while she certainly is not the nicest person, Clinton brought the problem on himself, and I challenge you to find anyone who blames Tripp. My problem with Clinton is that it seems like he could have found a better looking women, the man really did have bad taste in women.
(i added satan)
Nice work!!!!
This is a convicted felon. Fox has a warm hug for him and Ollie North, which sends what kind of a message?
Because of the double dealings of a renegade FBI agent. And Liddy is right, too.
I could post a list two yards long in short time pointing out all the mistakes FoxNews has made this year alone. Do you ignore their lies?
Your on, only give me about 15.
If Fox really had this, why wouldn’t they post a link for it?
Go to Washington Post and in the search News field type in corrections and it’s the second one (when I did it) took 30 seconds :- )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/01/AR2005060101846.html
Your garage was the only place I could afford while in Vegas.
If you’ve seen my garage you’d know that it wouldn’t be hard to find better.
but I think that is the problem with conservatives they are very good at blaming someone else for thier problems.
In a nut shell, the democrats have been really good at obstuctionism while the republicans have been really good at maintaining an issue. They kinda work hand in hand, like with bush sticking to Bolton like glue and Boxer doing everything shady or otherwise to stop it from happening. I think this is just the nature of the beast.
I don’t blame Linda Tripp for Clintons problem, and while she certainly is not the nicest person, Clinton brought the problem on himself
You have free room and board in my garage anytime you want!!!
My problem with Clinton is that it seems like he could have found a better looking women, the man really did have bad taste in women.
I think he was going for texture, if you get my drift. Remember, he was aiming for the face…bah dumm chhhhhhh, thank you and don’t forget to tip your waitress.
That this tongue in cheek joke makes perfect sense to right wingers is not a good thing.
Joe Scarborough brings this guy on to discuss whether or not Deep Throat was an honorable man…think about that for a minute.
How can you defend Liddy? I’m sure any criminal feels animosity for the person who put them there, but some of them get around to that process of taking personal accountablity. This guy never hit that step apparantly. Having him provide commentary on Deep Throat is sureal.
You’re right. I was searching for deep throat…not smart.
Boxer wasn’t even a part of the proceedings from last week. It was Biden, Kerry, Dodd and Voinivich.
You didn’t address karl’s accertion that Republicans always have someone to blame. Look at any failure of policy in the past thirty years and they’ve got someone to blame for their own mistakes. The excuses for Iraq are already being used…the media, the Iraqis themselves…it’s not what real leaders are supposed to do.
George Carlin had a good joke on this…but I won’t butcher it here.
did you ever see the movie primary colors? A lot of Clinton supporters really did not like the movie, personally I thought it made him seem more human, flawed but human. I think that is one of the reasons that he was so popular, he is like most of us.
You’re right. I was searching for deep throat…not smart.
Yeah, it kinda disappears once your married, huh?
DI: (i added satan)
RT: Nice work!!!!
That this tongue in cheek joke makes perfect sense to right wingers is not a good thing.
Maybe the messenger changes the message and that’s why republicans don’t trust them….
You didn’t address karl’s accertion that Republicans always have someone to blame. Look at any failure of policy in the past thirty years and they’ve got someone to blame for their own mistakes. The excuses for Iraq are already being used…the media, the Iraqis themselves…it’s not what real leaders are supposed to do.
I think leaders are expected to explain themselves to the people and if it so happens that a massive media bias wrongly turned to the public against an event thereby undercutting the support for it them it is true that the media is responsible for it’s failure.
I surely don’t want republicans to lie about what happened to preotect the obstructionist liberals, that’s ridiculous. If Bolton doesn’t go to the U.N. it’s the democrats fault, plain and simple. The media during Vietnam only showed the negative, liberal side and completely ignored the Vietnamese people and the threat from communism. Liberals have this lust for cummunism that I just don’t understand.
So, to address Karl’s point, the republicans are just telling it like it is and how it happened.
Boxer wasn’t even a part of the proceedings from last week. It was Biden, Kerry, Dodd and Voinivich.
Liberals all look alike to me. Seriously though, maybe I’m thinking of the judicial fiasco.
did you ever see the movie primary colors? A lot of Clinton supporters really did not like the movie, personally I thought it made him seem more human, flawed but human. I think that is one of the reasons that he was so popular, he is like most of us.
I haven’t. That may be the problem with Clinton, I don’t want someone like me or anyone I know because none of them, or me, are able to run the U.S. I want someone with extraordinary presence, determination, ethics and skill. I know I couldn’t run this country so wy would I want someone like me in there?
Determination, ethics, skill? sounds good, but I am pretty sure those people just exist in movies, so what we have are people who pretend that they have those traits and are just as flawed as the rest of us. A lot of the current problems come from people who believe their own hype, personally I would rather have someone who has one foot in realty not a Nietzian uber mench who is trying to create his own realty.
The Neitzian comment is not meant to be a Nazi blast, I am taking a course on existentialist so it is hard not to reduce everything to those terms.
So they say – but I think that’s more about having a patented joke that’ll work in a pitch when someone has to write an episode of a shit sitcom. Marriage has become the most over-riffed aspect of American life. Just look at a piece of crap like ‘Yes, Dear’…
I think that politicians don’t like when the press gets something right that they did wrong. The spin machine washes most of that out these days. And instead of the press existing as a means to keep our leaders in check, now the press looks for mistakes that their competitors made…and then the politicans help them out with it by demonizing the NYT or Newsweek. I love the Times, for the same reason I love the Wall Street Journal – it’s reporting that the best writers are involved in, and the facts they put in their stories are solid.
Right – you can’t find a handfull of mistakes in a weeks worth of editions from the New York Times or the Journal. Remove their editorial pages and the reporting is solid. The strict partisan crowd does not want bad news reported about their people, and that’s what this is about. The Tom Delay disciples categorize the New York Times like it’s evil incarnate, and that’s just dishonest.
O’Reiley’s beef about their front page stories competely ignores the size and layout of their front page. Like the WSJournal, there’s a lot of information packed into that front page. Most newspapers have one big story w/ photo and maybe a column starting to the right and the left. The Times today…actually yesterday, there are six stories on the front page with multiple paragraphs. Was Abu Gharib worthy of being a top six story during the time new facts were popping up every day? I think so. That’s the purpose of a newspaper, to inform us of the stories and their developments.
The right-wing didn’t like that story, so they avoided it as best they could…Bush included. The first time I remember him even mentioning it he mispronounced Abu Gharib…he called it Abu Garif.
In your opinion, is that what we get from Republicans today? I didn’t hear a word from them about the story of those Afghani detaines who were beated in the legs until they died. Not a word. Now Rumsfeld is denigrating Amnesty International. It seems to me that if they’re not placing blame, they simply don’t talk about it.
Right, what was the positive side of Vietnam? You say that the positive side was they weren’t Communist, but are you saying that if given a choice they would have chosen death rather than Communism? Think of the amount of lives that were lost over there…Vietnamese lives. Go over there today and ask whether it was worth all of that to save themselves from calling themselves Communists today. Ask your average Laotian. You and I can’t use philosophy to determine what’s what when it comes to this. Ideology is worthless if the results don’t back it up.
I disagree. I think that folks like Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove will say anything to place the blame elsewhere. None of these former Nixon boys we’ve got in the White House today can come to terms with what actually happened in Vietnam. And Rush basically blamed Deep Throat for us losing the war. It’s revisionist history.
She gave a great speech on that topic. I saw it, and she was very good. What from her speech on the Senate floor concerning the filibuster battle did you find wrong?
I’m disgusted by what I see in Primary Colors. His character is completely seperated from his work. I really can’t respect a man who cheats on his wife so blatantly. With that said, he was the President, and just like I’m not concerned with Bush’s alcohol or drug use in the past, when it comes to the job he did – I have to judge him on what he accomplished.
What we fail to remember is that powerfull men throughout our history have had their pricks in and out of every kind of unauthorized place you could imagine. The Kennedys were raised to do this. George Bush Sr. had an affair that went on for years, most of the time while Barbara was in Texas. Washington DC is full of powerfull men who have very strange sexual desires and for some reason many of them feel entitled.
There was a sort of ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ concerning off the clock behavior when it came to the President and the press that’s been in place for centuries. It was with Clinton though that the agreement was scraped, and he only has himself to blame for it up to a certain point. When the politicans and press lost focus on the importance of the office he held and the fact that he had a job to do…No War For Monica…when it crossed over into the job, we lost something. We lost perspective all of a sudden. And unlike JFK who I consider a brilliant leader, piece of shit as a man…no such luxury exists with Clinton. We’re suddenly not entitled to such an opinion.
It’s sad really. And when the tapes of Bush speaking with that old friend of his were released…I honestly could have cared less. That’s not the game. The game is what he’s doing in the job. And that’s where we need to look. In the military you learn early on that whether or not you have respect for the man, the rank deserves respect regardless. This goes for the President as much as it does any sergeant I served under.
It’s up to the family and God to judge a man on the other stuff.
Something we disagree about. When I watched primary colors I understood why Clinton played well in the south, he was sort of a good old boy, the Momothon scene shows what it takes to do well in the south. Witout a doubt Monica interferred with him performing his duties and gave the republicans a lot of leverage over him, which enabled them to stop him from taking out Bin Ladenv when he had the chance. So I guess you can look at it both ways, if Clinton had not done it, the Republicans would not have had anything to overreact to.
I know I am going to get called on it so I will explain in advance, The right wing of the repubs were against taking action against Afganistan because they saw the Mullahs as allies in the abortion battle. Great company the wingers keep.
I will have to watch Primary colors again and see what I come away with.
Don’t get me wrong – the guy was brilliant. I was commenting more of what I thought of him on a personal level on things outside of the presidency. His inability to fight off temptation when it came for lusting after other women is the extent of my gripes.
As a president, as a leader, I wish we still had him. The scandal is really all the right-wing can harp on at this point, because he was the only president of my lifetime who could actually manage to spend what he took in tax-wise. He was the only one who really focused on the needy in this country. I love him and I hate him. It’s a tricky thing, but somehow I’m honestly able to seperate the office from the man and judge them seperately.
Like with Dubya, I think he’s lazy…both with his own education and intelligence, keeping up with things, taking the time to become knowledgable on the topics he needs to be knowledgable about. Clinton dwarfed this guy when it came to that. When it came to the job, there’s no comparison. I honestly feel that Bush is all show. And that’s why his supporters don’t mention his achievements, but rather his appearance. The love for Bush is the character he plays. He does a pretty good Ronald Reagan impersonation, and that’s all he needs apparantly.
Cheney and the first lady are in bunkers…Congress is running around, and he’s enjoying a bike ride. If I had to put money on it, I’d bet that Cheney is the president and Bush is just along for the ride.
Primary Colors is a movie that just deals with everything that happened leading up to his presidency. I think that’s why I was so negative.
It’s one of my favorites.
Bush is an odd charactor, he has a gift for telling the religous right what they want to hear while not sounding to conservetive to everyone else. Deep down I don’t think he cares much about anything. During the debates he did not seem to have much depth to his opinions he finished a lot of his answers before the time was up. That may be why he is turning into a lame duck so fast, he does not have the depth of knowledge or the passion to persuade anyone on his point of view.
Once he got reelected his passion for the job seems gone, now he would rather Mtn Bike and let president Cheney do the heavy lifting. His whole life seems like that, periods of intense interest, like when he first became a fighter pilot, to indiference like when he missed a couple of years service.(excuse me, allegedly missed a couple years service)
Nah – CBS or no CBS, he skiped out. His lack of knowledge was in full display even in 2000. In the debates during Gore he ran out of things to say quite often. A farmer stood up and asked Bush about the death tax, which is where they pay farmers not to grow – something like that. Bush doesn’t know what it means, so he just goes off on one of his typical tangents…”American farmers are the best farmers in the world”…just like that for a minute, then Gore stood up and gave a very intelligent answer, he right answer anyway. The next day nobody mentions it. It’s this that convinces me to seek out use.net.
The best thing that came from the election of 2000 was the emergence of The Daily Show. A depressing period that confused the hell out of me. He pulled it off again, but this time it was about the inept people running the campaigns and seemingly no ‘outside the box’ thinking prior to the election…w/ all the long lines in Ohio.
Resevoir Dogs on IFC – excellent.
Bush and co are sort of like the New England Patriots they have a way of making the opposition look bad.
I don’t think much of Bush as a president but he is a good politician. I think the power of the religous right is waining, but if the Democcrats hope to retake the whitehouse they will need a more charismatic candidate than Al Gore or Jon Kerry, although I liked Kerry and think he would have been a good president. I am not sure Hilary is the answer, but a lot can happen in the next 3 years.
Blasphemy! The Patriots cannot be comparable with Bush…that’s my team!
Gameplan – I can dig where you’re going with the comparison, but in football you actually have to go out and execute. In politics you just have to say the right things. Once you’re in office you don’t actually have to ‘do’ anything.
I like what the Patriots did to Payton Manning.
You are right their has to be a better analogy for what Bush and co do to their opponents. Somehow they drag everyone into the gutter with them, maybe it is because their talking points are so far away from realty that no one even knows how to respond.
We definitely own Manning. If he is forced to move with the ball, he’s not half as good. The key to the Pats success is how they stock up on defensive linemen. By the 4th quarter, they’re still fresh. Indy just locked up a heavy portion of their cap on Manning and Harrison, so as long as Brady doesn’t lose a limb anytime soon, we should still have their number for years to come. Defensive tackles cost money, and they’ll never be able to afford one of them, let alone two for their 4-3 alignment. We’ve got Wilfork in his second year.
I’m really concerned about Bruschi though. I’d rather he not play if there’s any risk involved.
hey dude…how did this turn into a sports column…I to am worried about Bruc=schi..as a fan of the game i hate to see anybody hurt like that…Bruschi epitomizes (sp?) team player!!! one of the best i ever watched….
Absolutely. He is the face of that franchise for me. I’ve said before that I thought Troy Brown was the best player we’ve ever had. Bruschi would have to be right there. Against Indianapolis, when he just took the ball from Rhodes. I’d never seen a turnover like that. And then later on harassing James, Edgerin was slaping him away and didn’t see Rodney.
With Dillon now, the team that beats us will have to be able to make us punt to win. Brady is a third and short kind of quarterback, and this past year he consistently hit big ones downfield.
I think the site needs a good Dolphins thread. Eric, send me some stuff and I’ll put one together. What’s the scoop on Ricky? Will he actually be able to play if he comes back? Has the NFL said the year he stayed out fulfilled the punnishment?
If I were them I’d squash it. The game is better with him running for a team. Let Miami sign him, let him play, then Saban has a hell of a guy to trade for whatever the team needs most next year. Maybe they’ll sign a contract that relieves some of the financial burden – what he owes the team still, in exchange for waiving a no trade clause and a couple other things.
You’re right. I was searching for deep throat…not smart.
Damn conservative blocker!!!!!
Don’t get me wrong – the guy was brilliant.
I cannot believe you just used this phrase to describe Bill Clinton. Brilliant as in “and I’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you snooping prosecutors!!” brilliant? “I don’t know what the definition of is is” brilliant? Savings & Loan fraud or Whitewater brilliant?
Clinton is the proof that persidential term limits have saved this country from becoming another France and the ever perpetual Chirac at the helm. Clinton’s crimes dwarf those of Nixon like that Star Destroyer dwarfed Princess Leia’s ship at the beginning of Episode 4. At least Carter was just incompetent, but Clinton was the true teflon don.
I honestly feel that Bush is all show.
Bush is all determination and focus, Clinton was the king of show, it’s Slick Willie, what else would you expect?
Deep down I don’t think he cares much about anything. During the debates he did not seem to have much depth to his opinions he finished a lot of his answers before the time was up.
I loved this about him. He knew what his plan was and he knew how to articulate it. He didn’t need to confuse everyone with a whole bunch of double talk and freaky speak. And he was right. Look back at what Kerry was saying, it would have been a disaster.
A farmer stood up and asked Bush about the death tax, which is where they pay farmers not to grow – something like that.
The death tax is what takes the farm out of farmer. Suppose all you have is a farm and it pays enough for your taxes and a comfortable living. Your children take on the family business and learn to farm but then dad dies. The farm is valued at, say, a million dollars and the kids have 60 days to come up with the $200,000 tax. The farm either goes to the government or the auction block. Bush understands this concept as well as 2+2=4. The death tax is a brutal, crooked scheme to flush government coffers with ill-gotten slush funds.
And unlike JFK who I consider a brilliant leader
Blinked at racial tensions and failed with Castro. What else did he do?
You say that the positive side was they weren’t Communist, but are you saying that if given a choice they would have chosen death rather than Communism? Think of the amount of lives that were lost over there…Vietnamese lives. Go over there today and ask whether it was worth all of that to save themselves from calling themselves Communists today.
Most people won’t choose death over anything. If I get mugged they can have my wallet but the problem here is the people are neither free to tell what they really feel nor are the youth able to supress the indoctrination they have received since birth. Communism in actuallity is slavery of an ignorant populace. The people can’t do anything about their situation even if they were aware they were slaves.
The danger of communism always has been the destruction of culture, freedom, philosophy and self determination. History itself is destroyed in a communist society.