Quote:
Originally Posted by cmfhb411
Worth watching. Agree with just about everything after the 2:58 mark.
So if we were just like any of the 180 plus sovereign states Jeff refers to,
and not anything like we were, at any time since 1760 let's say..........
.........how much better off would we be as a nation?
and would the rest of the world be better off?
Not pretending to know, but the USA not being the greatest nation on earth?
OK, we're far from perfect. Who is?
Now I'm curious  |
at any time since 1760?
the expansion part, or the slavery part?
the growth of the country, or the mexican-american war?
land for immigrants, or trail of tears?
economy, or labor issues, disputes, killings?
equal rights, or jim crow and women's suffrage?
in other words...it's not all good history, nor is it all bad. people aren't perfect, we all have issues, skeletons in the closet, etc. the man who wrote all are created equal owned slaves, argued that the darker brown folks weren't as smart, and thought only landed gentry should vote, all while making babies with at least one of the women he 'owned'. there's irony for you.
we can be great, but i think far more so than in the past, we've lost our way. we use to be feared because everyone knew we were strong. now we are feared because we bully.
germany only started hitting neutral shipping again because they thought that ww1 was as good as won, and that france and england would capitulate before we could do anything, or would do. then the zimmerman note came to light, and we entered the war....and it ended a year later.
ww2, we were no superpower. but when japan bombed pearl harbor, as yamamoto said, 'i fear we have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with terrible resolve'. we won because we could ramp up production of war materiel' just like that. the sherman tank was a perfect example...not nearly as good as the panzer, but we could make a lot more than germany could.
but since ww2, we've been in a continual and perpetual state of war. whether cold war, korea, vietnam, and now with our longest war ever in afganistan....we aren't what we once were. we have put other things, mainly the army and use of same, ahead of everything else. what has that cost us?
but, like he said, we could be best again...if the system that's been created lets it happen-or we make it happen!