it is actually pretty simple.
democracy is where deposed tyrants go to live out their days.*** they seem to appreciate the absence of police state apparatus. and, the fact that they can associate with all the "fellow traveler" thinkers to be found in the sinecure of free society.
the question is, how long will they continue to come to the united states to get a little rest? the russians has always kind of favored north america, and leon trotsky lived in new york for a brief while during an exile. he later lived in mexico after another falling out, this time with his fellow bolsheviks, and died there of an allergic reaction to an ice pick in the eye sent him as a gift by joseph stalin. special delivery.
idi amin favored france, as did a host of middle eastern religious types before the flowering of the arab spring, which they fostered while in exile. in the west, you can be a revolutionary without being thrown in prison for it, especially if you get on a faculty some day.
vladimir putin at harvard? not really so improbable as you might think. stranger things, in fact, have happened.
john jay @ 12.25.2011
p.s. of course, revolutionaries on faculties sort of blend the concepts of tyranny and democracy, as davis at davis, ayers at illinois, and pliven at columbia. maybe we could send them to russia? it's a thought.
*** and, of course, to get adequate medical care.
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