The collapse of Communism and the Cold War system in Europe is the most important and hopeful development of modern times. While it's too soon to grasp fully the events of the past year, the unfolding story suggests at least five basic revisions of our political thinking in the new era.
Democracy is indeed a universal human value, as meaningful in Prague or Beijing as in Peoria.
The democracy movement in China, for example, rearranges our view of that alien land, long regarded with a certain deferential awe based on ignorance and fear. China must now be held to the same human rights standards as Western countries. We can no longer confuse the will of her aging strongmen with the will of her billion people. Like Communism itself, the crudely polarized Cold War ideology of anti-Communism is defunct, and subtler distinctions are needed. But the very different ideas behind socialism and Marxism will survive the wreckage.