arraya: You mentioned Negroponte in an earlier post. I spent three years in El Salvador (’85 – ’88) and I remember him quite well (unfortunately). Throughout those years, I remembered having to get my head around the fact that the US would support governments like those in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. I fell back on the “greater good” theory: That the US was ultimately the “good” guy and we had to get our hands dirty to fight off communism and the threat it represented.

These last few years have really shaken those beliefs. All of the things we decried about the communists are now on full display here in the US. I would never have thought that reading “1984” would remind me of anything other than the Soviets and the command economy they represented, as well as the omnipresent threat of wars without end. Look at us now.