Today, with the soviet union dead and gone for nearly 20 years, it seems like a silly premise for a movie. But back in the 80s, it seemed much more plausible that the Soviets might kick our asses completely. We had a greatly inflated sense of their capabilities and their health as a nation. There was certainly a consensus at that time that the Soviet Union would be around forever, even amongst people who found that to be a bad thing. At least a few of my teachers thought very highly of the soviet union and seemed to welcome its inevitable victory over the unfairness of capitalism. Yeah, I grew up in NYC.

I still think many of the fundamental assumptions of the movie resonate strongly with Americans, especially those that “love their country but hate (or at least mistrust) their government.” The movie touches on subjects such as gun control, legitimacy of governments, resistance against illegitimate governments (ie, occupying forces) and so on. Today’s left finds that its position relative to the bitter clingers that populate “flyover country” is not much different from that of the soviet occupiers in the movie. They have a grand socialist vision for our future that we aren’t interested in- we want them to leave us alone and let us rule ourselves in the manner we deem best- because “we live here.”