Posted on 02/02/2006 9:51:37 AM PST by devane617
Thirty years ago, the United States finally ended its long and costly war with Vietnam. That war pitted two fundamentally different views of the rights of men versus the power of the state against each other. One side believed men owned themselves and are born with religious, social and political freedom. The other believed the state owns men and was obliged to claim not only the product of a man's labor, but also to dictate his thoughts, his ambition and his beliefs. The necessity and wisdom of the Vietnam War will continue to be debated for decades (I happen to think it was neither necessary nor wise). What's not debatable is the morality and sustainability of the respective ideologies. Ours was moral and prevailed. Communism wasn't, and failed.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Communism "failed" because we were willing to stand up to Communist aggression in places, such as Vietnam.
Had we not fought in Vietnam, the Berlin Wall would still be up today.
Now communism rears its ugly head in South America. It will be our burden to deal with that for the next generation or two.
Actually, Vietnam really isn't all that capitalist. The State still controls and also outright owns a good portion of the economy:
http://ia.ita.doc.gov/download/vietnam-nme-status/comments/agshf/agshf-petitioners-vietnam-nme-cmt-sec-IV.pdf.
I'm afraid you're right. We're gonna deal with the human cancerous political idea from time to time either we like it or not.
If we didn't make a stand with Vietnam war, I just don't know how far communism spread. Keep in mind that communists have killed millions before and after the war for mopping up opposition. I didn't that what we did for any war!!!
I don't go along with that. The argument you're making is essentially 'Since we fought and lost in Vietnam- the Berlin Wall came down'. We lost. How does a loss equate to defeating communism?
Our free markets are what ended communism in the end. They (the Soviets) simply could not afford to keep up with the research and development capabilities of a free culture. Had Vietnam never even existed or if we had never intervened there communism would still have fallen in Europe.
Vietnam was a battle in a larger war. We showed the Soviets that if they were to gain ground, it would come at a heavy price. Had we not fought in Vietnam, and simply conceeded it to the Communists, they would have been poised to gain power in other parts of the world. And by then, they would have been in a much stronger position.
Why is this a Barf Alert? The article nails it. Stupid protectionist policies by the U.S.
In 2003 when I spent a summer in Viet Nam I was taken catfishing a couple of early mornings. It is no sport because the fish are in stocked and fed ponds, to wit, catfish farms. One threads a very tiny earthworm onto a very tiny hook tied to a cane pole. Dip it into the water and pull up a breakfast sized fish. It was not like "fishing" It was like reaching into the referigerator. We didn't go for sport but to pick up breakfast. We were me, an ancient grandfather and three small children. Th 5 yr olds had a ball and the adults unhooked the catch with pliers.
The catfish farms are entirely privately built and managed. They are mostly small operations and selling below cost would quickly render bankruptcy. This sort of entrepreneurial activity was not permitted until the 80s when the VeeCee(the universal citizenry's term for government people)got out of the collective business and turned the farmers loose and allowed people to go into business. The VeeCee have never provided subsidies for these small businessmen and the bureaucrats have sucked off the cash proceeds by bribe demands so that no one gets rich but they do expand their businesses with barter arrangements and such. These entrepreneurs are certainly a problem for American catfish farmers because the Vietnamese product is unfairly superior and cheaper.We should not be cutting off our market for these people. They revere America as the Promised Land. Most young men dream of coming here where they can work their butts off and keep what they earn and send their kids to college. America's best friends in the world are the Vietnamese people, even most of those still living who fought against us. They understand that America was not looking to rule and was helping at least some Vietnamerse.
We should be promoting these small businesses, not cutting them off. We need to encourage the indigenous small businesses so that they can grow even while we lean on the VCs to clean up their act and democratize. They are not believing Communists any more, not even the party honchos.VN even has de facto and de jure private property, including land, now. They are Mafia trying to hold onto their positions and to fend off China at the same time which is why the government tries so hard to come under US protection.
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