Gorbachev Era Comes to an End

There are a lot of people who talk about Mikhail Gorbachev as a failure: He failed to keep up with the changes in his country that he started a short six years ago. The changes he unleashed have occurred with dizzying speed, and they have by and large been very favorable changes. The reason I think he tried to ride the middle of the road between the conservatives and the reformers is so that he could remain in power long enough for the reforms to take hold.

Then I compare the things he achieved with the things that Republican administrations in this country have accomplished over the last 11 years. Our schoolchildren can’t get a good primary education or afford a higher education, many people can’t get good health care, rich people are richer, poor people are poorer, the country is out of money (thanks to the defense buildup and the S&L; bailout), the environment is in rapid decay and our Bill of Rights is increasingly coming under pressure from a conservative Supreme Court.

Are Americans just stupid, or are the Republicans in power just so effective at manipulating the media to their advantage that they keep getting elected in spite of the damage they are doing? Unfortunately, I think it is both. I believe that history will show that Gorbachev did many greater things for the world than Ronald Reagan and George Bush.

DREW PAXTON, Santa Monica