Upon returning home from the Soviet Union I could not believe how gullible our people were with regard to what was being said about the Soviet Union. I can remember adults telling me I couldn't possibly know anything about anything when I, not they, had been there for seven months. I'd hear the most outrageous allegations against the Soviet People (not the government - but the People themselves) and when I'd try to explain that they not only didn't hate us, they treated us like royalty I was ridiculed incessantly.

Then in the 1980's I was forced to take an Economics course taught by a Ph.D. in Econ. One day he was contrasting the economics of our healthcare system against that of the Soviet Union. Then he said, "From my reading, it's my understanding that when you reach a certain age in the Soviet Union, you are no longer provided health care." I immediately asked, "Where did you get that information? I've been there. My father has been many, many times. The fact of the matter is that every Soviet citizen has a Constitutional right to health care free of charge - for life. You really shouldn't rely on the John Birch Society Newsletter for all of your information on the USSR." That being ill received he pointed out that they don't pay much attention to their Constitution (which in large measure, I knew to be true). But I couldn't help myself. I said, "You know what? They not only provide free healthcare to their citizens, they provided it to me!" I didn't add that they freaked out when they discovered I wasn't Russian, but that Reagan adoring asshole was just too much.

Listening to how evil the Russians are today is very much a replay of listening to how evil the Soviets were in my youth through young adulthood. We're every bit as full of shit today as we were in the 1960's.