Americans cheered when the Berlin Wall fell. For most people, this was a symbol that America had won the Cold War. For others, this showed that capitalism beat Communism, and it would not be long before Communism fell throughout the world. Communism, to most Americans, is the system of government where all major functions of the nation are owned, operated, and regulated by the government. It is also known to be laden with corruption and elite rule, even though elite rule is completely contrary to the original intent.
In the former Soviet Union, there was the infamous Politburo, which is suppose to be elected by the Central Committee, which in turn is elected by the Party Congress. There is an image of "the people's government" maintained in Communism, where all functions and industries of the country are owned and operated "by the people." This is slightly different from U.S. "democracy," and the free-enterprise system, in which the government is of the people, and all of the country's industries are directly run by the citizens, without much government intervention.
Over the last hundred years, the United States has been changing from a "laisez-faire" government, which is suppose to keep its hands off the people's business, to a government completely entrenched in all the major businesses and industries. Even worse, this same government which is suppose to be "of the people" has major influences by those financial elites which own these industries.
American Intelligence was very familiar with the true operation of the Soviet Union. The elite, which were largely members of the Politburo, had systems in place where they could influence who was chosen to the Central Committee, the Party Congress, and their own Politburo. Also, they could choose who was in charge of all the government-run institutions. They also choose who was in charge of the non-government institutions, contrary to the belief of the idealist communists.
In the U.S., there is also a system in place, by the financial elite, where they use their power, money, and influence to make major decisions for the country. If an American corporation makes bad decisions and need money, the government simply gives them what they need at the taxpayer's expense, according to Time Magazine, February 7, 2000. According to the Washington Post, (October 20, 2000) big companies like Texaco not only pay no taxes, but also get large amounts of taxpayer money to do with as they please. Big logging companies are paid taxpayer money to log trees, trees that are supposed to be owned by the citizens. This is far from the laisez-faire system of capitalism intended by our founding fathers.
Because of our government's behavior, we have a country where the elite has as excessive control over the industry and the natural resources, just as Americans believed the Soviet Union's government had. What we have now in the U.S. is a small group of elite, mainly huge corporation owners, and major international bankers, who get what they need by exerting their influence through the government channels, passing right through the elected officials which are supposedly "of the people." The result is that all the major corporations are supported and maintained by the "people's government," and the people's money, just as was done in the former Soviet Union.
Americans also feared the Soviet Union's "domino effect," where they would colonize the world with their political view points and power. The United States has its military throughout the world, in over one hundred countries. Many of these countries have elected officials chosen by U.S. leaders, or international bankers, either by military force, C.I.A. activity, or sheer economic power. The U.S. is by far the biggest colonial power of the world.
The Communism of the former Soviet Union was based on the idea that everything should be owned by the people, so no group or individual would gain too much power over the public, or the nation. This was also the intent of our founding fathers for this country. Apparently, the one constant in the universe is that power corrupts. While Americans were worried about the Communists, they fell victim to their own enemy: corruption and emperialism.