Yesterday, Michael Gorbachev, the final secretary general of the Soviet Union, the man who with Ronald

Reagan brought about the peaceful end of the Cold War, died at the age of 91. Some of our younger

listeners might not remember Gorbachev, might not even know who he was. Gorbachev was, at the time of

his death, quite elderly, a prominent figure in politics since the 1970s, pretty much never had a

job outside of government, presided over the demise of a once-powerful nation and empire. His

policies hastened his empire's demise, and he was a fellow traveler with actual communists. Gorbachev

was, in many ways, a lot like Joe Biden, but that is not really fair to Gorbachev, and I don't

mean to speak ill of the dead, either Gorbachev or Biden. Gorbachev was, in many ways, a much better man

than Joe Biden. Damning praise, I know, but he wasn't in many ways a great man in his own right.

Reagan needed him to end the Cold War, which occurred without a shot fired, and he was committed to

a new course of reform for his empire. A new course summed up in two policies, glass-nost and

perestroika, transparency in government, and a fundamental restructuring of the political and

economic order. That is probably the biggest difference of all between Biden and Gorbachev.

The old top commune was far more willing to root out government corruption and give his people

an increased say in politics and the economy, than the big guy at 1600 Pennsylvania right now

ever would. A Michael Noll's is the Michael Noll's show.

Welcome back to the show. My favorite comment yesterday is from A Heins, who says, when I was younger,

much younger, I was a Democrat and protested and rebelled against the government. And now I'm old

and a Republican. Once again, I am rebelling against the government. Isn't that amazing?

Again, everything old is new again. We have got to protect ourselves against all sorts of problems,

including the government. That's why you got to check out Ring. Right now head on over to ring.com

slash Noll's. Summer is busy. It's busy for everyone. People go on vacation. If you're me, you spend

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