It got dialed back over time, but in the fifties you could say that international socialism was the shining future of humanity, and that communism was an achievable goal, though the road would be hard. And you could point to lots of persuasive evidence. What's the equivalent now?
I can accept all that! The distinction I am groping for is that the Cold War was not anchored on individual countries, but two abstract, incompatible belief systems that each made a great sales pitch—freedom vs. communism. It was a religious war with roughly equal numbers.
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But I think that's where we disagree. Those belief systems were certainly part of it. But much of it came down to American power-vs-Soviet power. Equally beliefs - in freedom-vs-autocracy - should be a part of it today, even as national power also plays a role.
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Yeah, that does sound like the heart of our disagreement. You seem to place a different weight on the totalizing ideological content of the power struggle (and its ability to win over people in unexpected ways) than I do.
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