6th May 2003, 11:18 AM
(This post was last modified: 6th May 2003, 11:34 AM by A Black Falcon.)
Quote:In a perfect world. But it hasn't worked, and won't for a long time, if ever. I explained why above.
But, from my point of view, it has... sure there's lots of stuff I don't like but the government overall has done a lot more good than bad.
Quote:Your entire point is a what-if. It assumes that there will ever be a world power that could threaten us, and at this point that's unlikely, because most nations adopt thinking patterns that limit their own influence and power. It would also assume that we would become so reviled that the entire world could overcome their differences to fight us, and that's impossible, frankly. The reason we are so powerful and will remain so is not because of our strength, but because of our economy, an economy that, unlike many, can be largely self-sufficient if it comes down to that. As it stands, many nations rely on trade with us for their very survival.
You're right. We were proceeding on the path to a world government until this president came along and exposed a few fatal weaknesses in it. World government will only succeed either in a time of great crisis, or when all nations think on the same page.
"What if we continue doing what we are currently doing, until sometime in the future what I (and others... as I said Howard Dean said something similar, and I read a article on the back page of a news magazine saying something along these lines) said will come true... the scary thing is that if we continue this path its not just not unlikely, its nearly inevitable. But it'll take a LONG time to do so its not like we'll be around to see it happen.
And obviously world government wouldn't be perfect by any means... but the UN should be able to BACK its proclamations somehow, and not just HOPE that nations agree to do something!
Quote:Napoleon was only looking for his own personal ends. He had a gigantic ego. But he did enable the US to double in size... so he's not all bad.
True, without him getting that land would have meant a LOT more trouble... so fine, there was a good side to him. That and finding the Rosetta Stone. :)
Quote:The 'democracies' of Africa are just like the 'democracy' of Iraq under Saddam: Democracies in name only, a mockery. It's been enough to placate the UN, which refused to do anything about these tragedies. What these nations need is to be helped into their democracy, like we are helping Iraq and helped Serbia to do. No, we can't just give them the basics and stand back, but we can guide them because we DO know best. It's not a matter of bringing savages into the light, it's helping them do it themselves. The US can do this, and the UN could have... SHOULD have. But first, sometimes you must eliminate the cancer that is eating the people first.
Britain and France both tried and failed, at least some, when they left... it'd just be too bad to see in a few years Iraq go back to that... but it'd hardly be surprising if we let it happen. It is tough to get people not used to democracy used to it... look how Germany willingly gave their power to Hitler after the Great Depression killed the Weimar Republic...
Quote:People in a different situation might not think we know best. That doesn't mean they're right.
Just like our strength doesn't mean we are.
Quote:Again, there are fundamental differences. How did we defeat the Soviet Union? ECONOMICALLY. We bled them dry because they could not compete with us on that very important level, to say nothing of their ruling power being one of extreme oppression and genocide. And we didn't take a single square foot of land from them. We've been an empire since we became more than 13 states in honesty, and a TRUE empire when we took lands from the Spanish a century ago. And since WWII we've been the strongest superpower in the world. Now we're the only one. But we haven't added any land from our fallen foes to our empire in a hundred years, save for perhaps a few islands from Japan. We conquered half of the German Reich and much of Japan's former empire, and we could have assimilated them if we chose. We did not. We made the wise move of allowing them to become free on their own, and the results were a complete success, because we took the time to help them become what they are.
No, all we did to Germany and Japan was write their constitutions (well for Japan anyway) and take a bunch of chunks of land in their territory from them for military bases. We've got 30,000 troops in Japan -- thats as many as are in South Korea... Oh, and it is true that we really did become and empire when we stole Spain's in the Spanish-American War. But we became the ONLY empire in 1990.
Also, the term I've heard in some places for the US now is "hyperpower". :)
And yes, we did defeat the USSR by out-spending us. Of course it wrecked our economy too, but we managed to survive... after a recession and a legacy of trillions of dollars in the national debt...
And if economic stuff is so great why do you support Bush and his military policy so strongly? Its the opposite (old-school empire) way to do things...
Quote:Yes, but the British weren't simply trying to intstall their way of life on people, but their own rule, usually a dominating rule. Had they taken a different approach to ruling their colonies, they might not have had that happen. America might still be a part of Britain had they not oppressed us. Remember, we didn't just decide one day that we didn't want to be a part of Great Britain anymore, we did it after years of oppression from the British parliament and the king.
Sure, we aren't on that extreme, but we are closer than you admit to it... we are trying to reshape the world in our image. Is that not so different?
Quote:That is assuming that we ever do become weak enough to topple. Personally, I can't see that happening without some major event making it happen. There are also many other factors that are different from other empires that lead me to believe that it would truly take a huge natural catastrophe or huge civil disorder and civil war to bring America down.
Rome would have said that in the days of Julius or Agustus Caesar... but 500 years later down they went.
Whew... two more to go. I'll do them later.