Oh, The Timing!

[frustratedpilot]

This past week on PBS, POV's documentary, "My Perestroika" was about the last generation of Russians to grow up under the Soviet system, who witnessed the fall of the Union and the subsequent confusion, desperation and strangeness that followed and continues for them.

Meanwhile, TH¡S had shown the William Hurt/Richard Burton version of Orwell's

Comments

[kiffie]

I think it's easy to get discouraged, given that, yeah, the US is in the crapper at the moment, but it's also seen far darker days and pulled through. There've been wars, and famine, and robber barons who controlled the government in all but name. There's been unjust laws and riots, national disillusionment, and god-knows-what-else. It's gotten through.

I think the major difference between the US and Russia (or France, or any other nation that continually feels the need to rebel and reimagine itself) is that the US is neither a strong government nor a strong people. We function because both work in tandem. And when one gains power, it's in the best interest of that party to either reconcile with, or rebuild, the other, because our system (and, indeed, our national psyche) doesn't allow for either party to work alone.