National Downfall Quotes
Although oft quoted, what Adams actually wrote in a letter to John Taylor (15 April 1814) was: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.” See related quote for citation.
The “execution” to which she refers was the famous speech given to communist party leaders by Nikita Khrushchev where he publicly revealed the worst crimes of Stalin and Stalinist Russia. Prior to that, publicly Stalin was godlike in the Soviet Union. Decades of disillusionment with Stalinist Russia set the stage for the fall of the Soviet Union which was also accompanied by massive corruption, economic chaos and a diminution of the standard of living of most Russians. Some, including many of the younger people who had not lived through the Stalinist horrors, were resentful that the great era of Soviet military, scientific, and political greatness and dominance was completely overshadowed by the revelation of the purges, gulags, terror and murder. Prudnikova represents that school of thought.
Louis Eugene Walcott
One of the few vestiges of Nazism in Germany is the discrimination against all who do not have German blood. No matter how long an immigrant lives in Germany and contributes to the society, he cannot become a citizen unless his parents were German. This race phobia together with the classic competition for jobs between natives and immigrants which exists on many countries, make the German attitude toward immigrants unique. At the same time, there are other Germans who want to import more immigrant labor to grow the German economy.
