"America Will Never Be A Socialist Country." How Often Has Your Head Exploded Over This Trope?

[DFW]

17. In one ear and out the other

I think of my current residence, Germany, and take three 50 year intervals. In 1893, no one could have predicted the Nazi regime and the horrors of World War II. In 1943, while the British and American bombers were starting to demolish their cities, no one in Germany could have predicted the tranquil, albeit somewhat reduced, Federal Republic of 1993. In the early 1980s, when Poland was showing some signs of unrest, Leonid Zamyatin, of the ruling elite of the Soviet Union, said Poland would always remain „socialist.“ Конечно, там, товарищ.

History rarely follows any individual‘s blueprint for very long.