America's "Thing" with Communism

"The spread of democracy" has been a consistent player in American foreign policy for well over a century. The name of democracy equipped the U.S. with an ideological reason to implant itself in countries around the world where faltering governments appear to need a good ole American dose of democracy. And while the argument was made that the crusade to spread democracy would help "advance" the recipient country, the rise of communism added a new flavor to America's quest to preserve and instill democracy across the world. The Cold War, the cold rivalry between America and the Soviet Union, was the ultimate challenge democracy faced in the 20th century. The two nations, prominent in the world economy and in their military strengths, stood opposite in political ideologies; the rivalry became in many ways a struggle--democracy vs. communism--to see which system of government would ultimately reign around the world. America and its western European partners became the advocators of "anticommunism." Since WWII, communism has developed to be the strongest contender to challenge the fortitude of democracy, and America's wariness towards communism did not subside following the end of the USSR nor was it directed specifically towards the Soviet Union. The U.S. was again pinned against communism in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the latest news with North Korea only continues the ever-escalating struggle between democracy and communism. The communist North Korea's recent missile launch and threat towards the U.S. incorporates many of the hostile feelings that surfaced during the Cold War. Although communism may not be considered a direct influence for North Korea's latest action, its desire to construct itself as a major military power and its desire to weaken or harm the strongest standing democratic state harkens back to this contest between two forms of governance.