Les Jones

One of the things that unnerved my convictions in my unquestioning liberal days was talking to people in college who came to America from former Soviet states. For them, Reagan was a hero for standing up to the evils of Communism.

My mom came to America from a former Soviet state, and while she voted for Reagan 4 times and generally thinks he was a good president, she thinks his foreign policy truly sucked. Will you add that to your data set?

Sure. I'm wondering what part of his foreign policy in particular she didn't like. East and West Germany re-united and abandoned Communism, the Soviet Union adopted Glasnost then eventually collapsed and lost its chokehold on its satellite states. What part of that isn't to like? But yeah, I'm curious about what policies she didn't like.

Ok, I'm putting words into her mouth here, so of course take what I say with a grain of salt -- I obviously belive all the stuff below, too.

I think that she doesn't give Reagan much credit for bringing down the Soviet Union. She told me repeatedly in the 70s that the Soviets wouldn't last out the century because its economic system was totally unworkabe, and I think she belives that Reagan's huge defense spending didn't really do much to hasten what was already an collapsing house of cards, but only served to raise her taxes and muck up our economy. Furthermore, she is a big admirer of Gorbechev, and she thinks he's the one who was mostly responsible for the events of the late 80. One thing she does think Reagan did well was recognizing that Gorbechev truly was a different sort of leader, and working with him against the advice of many hawks in his administration. Unfortunately, in her estimation, Reagan's fellow travelers did everything possible to make sure that Gorby got pushed out, allowing the disaster that was Yeltzin to step up and ruin all of the progress that had been made.

She also absolutely hates war, having lived through one too many days of being attacked by bombs and strafing aircraft and everything else that comes with having your country invaded and being taken away by the invaders to work in their factories. Not to say that she's a pacifist, but she one of those curious people who thinks that war is truly the last resort to solving problems. Sending arms to Nicaragua, and supporting groups which roamed the countryside, dragging people out of their homes and burning them alive, may have served our national interest, but it certainly wasn't the last resort available to solving problems in Central America, and it really bothered her.

So, in sum, she loves commies and terrorists, and hates America, as is the case with everyone who says anything bad about W or the Iraq war. As the freepers would say, shes a Republican in Name Only.

Oh, and I guess the other question would be, if she had a time machine would she go back and vote for Carter or Mondale instead of Reagan?

If i were my mom, I'd probably smack me for using her as a rhetorical device, although I really don't think I'm mischaracterizing her views.

Anyway, no, I doubt she would have voted for Carter or Mondale. So what?

And I guess MY other question would be -- would talking to a very religious, economically and more or less socially conservative Ukrainian immigrant, survivor of WWII and two brutal totalitarian dictatorships, someone who had much of her family tortured and/or murdered by one of those dictatorships, who thinks that post-war American foreign policy has been corrupt, deeply flawed and has caused a vast amount of needless suffering and misery throughout the world, and who thinks that George W. Bush should be tried as a war criminal, unnerve your newfound hawkish convictions?

[p.s. -- believe it or not, while I'm the token lefty in the family, I'm waaaaay to the right of my parents on foreign policy, and the Iraq War in particular. I avoid the subject all together, lest my mother start crying and my Jimmy Duncan-admiring father quote one of the long passages from Noam Chomsky that he's committed to memory. The only thing that's worse to bring up than the war is John Edwards. Man, they hate Edwards with the fire of a thousand burning suns. Come to think of it, you and my mom would make a great blogging team -- you can cover the Cambodia stuff, and she'll thoroughly take care of the sleazy in it only for himself trial lawyers will be the ruin of this country angle.]