The East Bloc Was a Keel for the West

During the cold war, reports from the East Bloc countries provided a contrast between the totalitarian communist countries and the West. In a lot of ways, the East Bloc kept the west mindful of the value of freedom, especially free speech. The hypocrisy and pettiness of its "leaders" were front and center in the news on a daily basis.

Free speech, free political speech is paramount to the western world. The contrast between "oriental despotism" and the west was exemplified by gulags and political dissidents who had to flee the land of their birth for criticizing corruption and the commies who ran their countries into the ground.

Today, US corporations and Eurozone countries are starting to look a lot like the Eastern Bloc corrupt authoritarians.