In 1945 the U.S.A. had an industrial might that was the envy of the World. Today the U.S. industrial base has rusted. Its manufacturing base has been outsourced abroad by conservatives listening to corporations.
The country had been spared the devastations of WW2. Today many inner cities in America are combat zones. Conservatives turned them into 19th-century militarized territory.
The rest of the world would take a long time to dig out and rebuild their destroyed infrastructures after WW2. Today it will take a long time, if ever, to reindustrialize America. Instead the Neocons want a 19th-century foreign Empire.
In 1945 the U.S. declared that it had learned from the lesson that caused WW2. It said that the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles would not be made again. After WW2 the U.S. said it would not economically punish and isolate its adversaries. Today, despite the failure of sanctions on Iran and Cuba, new 19th-century-style blockades are being imposed on Russia and Venezuela.
After World War One the U.S. failed to ratify the treaty establishing the League of Nations as a world body to preserve the peace. After WW2, the U.S. was instrumental in establishing the United Nations so that countries would have, in the words of Kerry, the 21st-century "modern manner in which nations resolve international problems". Today the U.S. has sidelined the U.N. in favor of its 19th-century Empire.
The American people were optimistic after WW2. They marveled at the possibilities of technology, American can-do and peace. They wanted to prepare for the 21st century. Today Americans are afraid; they submit to intrusive violations of their constitutional rights in a Faustian bargain for presumed safety. Now Americans are neither as free nor safe.
After WW2, returning soldiers were awarded the G.I. Bill of Rights so that they could get an education. For many it was the ticket to joining a growing and prospering middle class.
Today government is eliminating and privatizing human investments. To get an education today, students have to pay exorbitant 19th-century tuition fees, and go deep into debt that puts them into 18th-century involuntary servitude. After obtaining an education many students join the lines left by the Depression-era unemployed.
The U.S. felt that it had earned the right to be the moral leader of the world after WW2. The U.S. said it championed freedom, democracy and human rights. The U.S. established international financial institutions to provide economic recovery for the war-torn world.
Today the moral standing of the U.S. in the world is abysmal. International financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization are used as tools of 19th-century-style imperialism to exploit the resources and the people of weaker countries. Opinion polls have shown that much of the world believes that the greatest threat to world peace comes from the U.S.A. [HERE]
The Long War Against Russia
After WW2, the U.S. had most of the wealth in the world. Today the U.S. has a mountain of debt from a chronic negative balance of trade. The U.S. relies on its ability as the International Reserve Currency to issue bonds backed by Middle East oil to balance its international payments.
In 19th-century fashion, after WW2 the U.S. conservatives thought that by owning most of the gold in the world the U.S. would dominate the world. If that was not enough for conservatives, the U.S. alone had the atomic bomb and it had used it on Japan. [A-Bombing of Japan Was Unnecessary]
One reason the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan was to send a message to the Soviet Union. The Soviets got a different message and quickly developed their own nuke bombs, and so did Communist China.
After an insane nuclear standoff with the Soviets for almost half the 20th century, the U.S. had an opportunity for 21st-century nuclear disarmament. Instead, after the Cold War, the New Conservatives, known as Neocons, reveled in triumphalism. Neocons took the U.S. back into the future of the 19th century.
Even just a little over a year ago President Obama made a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany and promised the world that he would work with the Russians to "cut American- and Russian-deployed nuclear warheads (applause)". The applause was for a nuke-free 21st century. [HERE]
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