Getting giddy over Gorbachev visit

• Reprints

Jeff Ward

Updated: April 3, 2012 10:15AM

I don’t have many political heroes and often lament that our Springfieldians don’t provide me with nearly enough opportunities to accentuate the positive.

The only politician I’ve praised lately is Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon, and I’ve been trying to tell him to get the hell out of it before even he turns to the dark side.

But there is one name that, when even whispered, gets me to jump out of my chair and thrust my fist in the air — Mikhail Gorbachev. And he’s coming to talk at Judson College, which is a far better sight than George W. Bush who spoke at last year’s World Leaders Forum.

To give you an idea of just how excited I got when I heard about his Elgin visit, as Mayor Dave Kaptain and I touched on the topic last week, we got giddier than a couple of sixth-grade school girls on their way to a Justin Bieber concert.

Apparently the mayor is also a fan.

Think about it. Here’s a guy who reached the pinnacle of the Soviet Politburo and could’ve coasted along in his Black Sea dacha, living a life most of us could only dream about. But instead, when he applied some foresight and didn’t like what he saw, Gorbachev risked his life to do something about it.

He realized the Soviet system was teetering on the brink of the abyss and it could not be sustained. Whether it was an event like the Arab Spring or a descent into regional factionalism, had he allowed the USSR to implode, considering their vast nuclear arsenal, there may have been dire consequences for the rest of the planet.

Unlike our current presidential hopefuls, he didn’t tell people what they wanted to hear, he told them what they needed to hear. Gorbachev introduced words like “perestroika” (bureaucratic and economic restructuring) and “glasnost” (open discussion of social and government problems) into the Soviet vocabulary.

Then, going beyond just lip service, he put his money where his mouth is and championed those changes. Gorbachev knew it would be a painful transition for a people accustomed to relying on the government, but he also understood that necessary pain was nothing compared to the agony they would have endured had the Soviet system simply collapsed.

We love to give Ronald Reagan credit for ending the Cold War, but it was Mikhail Gorbachev who, perceiving the inevitable conclusion of an escalating nuclear confrontation, allowed that symbolic Berlin wall to come tumbling down.

It was actually his January Plan that called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons by the year 2000. While that never came to pass, he and Reagan did agree to drastically reduce the number of European based intermediate range warheads.

Though we weren’t smart enough to capitalize on his wisdom, Gorbachev also extracted the Soviet union from its 10-year quagmire in Afghanistan.

When his reforms led to the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc, rather than reprise the crackdowns that abruptly ended the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and 1968 Prague Spring — with some notable bumps in the road — he bowed to the inevitable and traded repression for freedom.

And despite espousing what had to be considered some ultra revolutionary ideals, he was politically savvy enough to garner the kind support that allowed him to survive a 1991 coup attempt.

It is also important to mention that it wasn’t all wine and roses for the Soviet people. In some cases, Gorbachev tried to do too much too fast and, by the end of the 1980s, severe food shortages led to the reinstatement of wartime rationing.

I’m sure luck played a role in what Gorbachev managed to accomplish, but when it comes to the world leaders that make a real impact, they always seem to create their own luck. Though Russia is still feeling its way through the fallout from these changes, that country is far better off for what Mikhail Gorbachev had the courage to do.

While I took Judson College to task for inviting George W. Bush to speak on leadership and Christian values last year, this time they’ve knocked the ball clean out of the park. My fondest wish (besides getting an interview) is that Mr. Gorbachev’s political valor and acumen will somehow rub off on of our would-be leaders.

But I won’t be holding my breath.

You can reach Jeff at jeffwardsun@sbcglobal.net