General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Neil deGrasse Tyson on the popularity of dictatorships [View all]wnylib
(21,417 posts)was the spread of communism in Europe and Asia after the war. The US took a strong anti communism stance that pushed us farther to the right. In addition, we recruited former Nazis to help establish the CIA after the war.
The WWII generation was also wary of appeasement after the run up to WWII. So our leaders and voters of the WWII generation took a proactive stance regarding communism, which led us to support right leaning dictatorships in Asia (Vietnam) and South America.
Capitalism became synonymous with democracy in our political speech. We toppled governments for the sake of our corporate business interests abroad. That turned more 3rd world countries to communism. Cuba is an example. We supported dictatorships there, particularly Batista, to serve our corporate and tourism interests leaving most Cubans in deplorable poverty. They rebelled and we took Batista's side. Cubans turned first to socialism. When we tried to interfere, they sought help from the Soviet Union and Cuba went full on communist.
So, we went from opposing RW dictstorships in WWII, to supporting them after the war in order to oppose LW dictstorships. Democracy got lost in the process.
We have failed to clearly define democracy and failed to teach the next generations the lessons of what led to the Great Depression and WWII.