How did our nation survive its first 150 years? (enemy, economic, money)

[GregW]

So our most powerful nation status is not perpetual. That is going to surprise a lot of conservatives. The trouble with being on top is the cost of that status. A cost we can no longer afford.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by westcobb

on the eve of the civil war, we were nowhere near the most powerful nation on earth. We were a sleepy little backwater of western civilization, more of a curiousity to the european powers than anything else. We didn't claim the title of "most powerful nation on earth" until post world war ii. We weren't even really a player in international politics until world war i. (one could claim that the spanish-american war of 1898 was our first entry onto the world stage, but even then we were warring with a nation that was irrelevant to most of europe.)

the nation we live in would be impossible without the centralization that resulted in the aftermath of the civil war. We would be far poorer and much more beholden to more powerful nations. (there would be several more powerful than us.)

1776+150=1926

[burdell]

Originally Posted by GTOlover

we had no tv or internet and we had to all farm and hunt our food no supermarkets with pre packed goods

it was a hard life where you worked on your farm from dusk till dawn and entertainmkent like american idol did not exist so we were more productive all we did was work istead of well play the fack that I am postnting this from a blackberry just shows that we are super lazy.

And were rewarded by usually dying young......................................

[EinsteinsGhost]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

1776+150=1926

Thank Teddy Roosevelt?

[jeffington]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

In that timeframe, we went from newest to most powerful.

How were we able to accomplish this without the EPA, war on drugs, student loans, an income tax, taxing the rich, crippling business regulations, bailouts, quantitative easing, social security, medicare, a military industrial complex, an empire, homeland security, a minimum wage, preemptive wars and fiat money, to name a few?

Thank God we have all these things now and I'm not growing up in such dark times.

Liberty - especially economic liberty, which we call CAPITALISM.

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

Are airplanes, autombiles and the internet considered federal agencies? LOL nice try though.

Not a "nice try", a valid point. You're just picking things you don't like and saying they ought to be done away based on entirely faulty logic.

Your argument that our country experienced success without those things can be applied to things other than federal agencies, and in doing so it's easy to spot your fallacy. It's similiar to the appeal to tradition fallacy - i.e. "we always did it that way and it worked out well, therefore changes to the old ways are wrong."

The fact that life could be good before the existance of a thing doesn't exclude the possibility that life could be better with the addition of a thing. Or that the increasing complexity of society now requires something that it didn't used to.

If you want to argue against something, at least pick valid reasons. Arguing against something on the sole basis of your dislike for it is not adequate.

[GTOlover]

Originally Posted by EinsteinsGhost

Thank Teddy Roosevelt?

Popular Culture 1926

UK
• Winnie-the-Pooh is published by Author A. A. Milne

Inventions Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )

Liquid Fuel Rocket USA by Robert Goddard
Aerosol Sprays Norway by Erik Rotheim

What News Events Happened in 1926

UK
• General strike in England begins in support of the coal miners strike on May 3rd and Ends May 12th

UK
• Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel

Germany
•5,000,000 Unemployed in Europe with 2 million in Germany and 1 million in England

Japan
• Hirohito Crowned emperor of Japan

UK
• John Logie Baird, first public demonstration of a television

Italy
• Mussolini takes control in Italy

U.S.
• Pontiac Cars are made

U.S.
•Henry Ford announces the 40-hour week

U.S.
•U.S. Route 66 is created running from Chicago to Los Angeles

China
•British, American and French warships battle for control from China of the Yangtse River

U.S.
• Kelly Blue Book First Published

U.S.
•Radio network National Broadcasting Co ( NBC ) is launched

U.S.
•Silent film heart throb Rudolph Valentino died causing a worldwide frenzy among his fans

U.S.
• 27 Tornadoes strike southern US states including including an F4 that struck the town of Heber Springs, Arkansas on Thanksgiving weekend killing 76.

U.S.
• Population: US 115 million, Britain 45 million

U.S.
•The continuing Turf wars between the gangsters escalates as Twelve cars full of gangsters open fire at the Hawthorne Inn, headquarters of Al Capone in Chicago.

U.S.
•1926 Miami Hurricane on News and Events From September 20th (or Great Miami Hurricane or the Big Blow) was an intense hurricane that devastated Miami, Florida in 1926.

Born This Year
David Attenborough News And Events From May 8th
Fidel Castro This Day In History August 13th
Marilyn Monroe News And Events From June 1st
Hugh Hefner This Day In History April 9th

Major World Political Leaders

Australia Prime Minister Stanley Bruce

Brazil President Artur Bernardes Till 15 November

Brazil President Washington Luís From 15 November

Canada Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King till June 29,

Canada Prime Minister Arthur Meighen From June 29, 1926 till September 25,
Canada Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King From September 25,

Italy Prime Minister Benito Mussolini

Japan Prime MinisterTakaaki Katō Till 28 January

Japan Prime Minister Reijirō Wakatsuki From 28 January

Mexico President Plutarco Elías Calles

Russia / Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee Joseph Stalin

South Africa Prime Minister James Barry Munnik Hertzog

United States President Calvin Coolidge

United Kingdom Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin

source from: http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1926.html

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

1776+150=1926

Again, the United States did not rise to 'superpower' status until after WW2.... as has now been pointed out by several posters.

The USA has had its best years SINCE the end up WW2, not BEFORE it.

We "survived," sure. Just as people "survived" without air conditioning, cars and planes.... there's a huge difference between THRIVING and SURVIVING.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

Not a "nice try", a valid point. You're just picking things you don't like and saying they ought to be done away based on entirely faulty logic.

Your argument that our country experienced success without those things can be applied to things other than federal agencies, and in doing so it's easy to spot your fallacy. It's similiar to the appeal to tradition fallacy - i.e. "we always did it that way and it worked out well, therefore changes to the old ways are wrong."

The fact that life could be good before the existance of a thing doesn't exclude the possibility that life could be better with the addition of a thing. Or that the increasing complexity of society now requires something that it didn't used to.

If you want to argue against something, at least pick valid reasons. Arguing against something on the sole basis of your dislike for it is not adequate.

My point is that somehow we got from point A (a new country) to point B (a powerful country) without these silly federal agencies. My question is, how did we make that HUUUUGE step, in such a short time, without all these bureaucratic, make-work federal agencies. HOW.DID.IT.HAPPEN.WITHOUT.THEM?

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Again, the United States did not rise to 'superpower' status until after WW2.... as has now been pointed out by several posters.

The USA has had its best years SINCE the end up WW2, not BEFORE it.

We "survived," sure. Just as people "survived" without air conditioning, cars and planes.... there's a huge difference between THRIVING and SURVIVING.

Oh, so now the United States is thriving because we have these federal agencies? Before them, we were just getting by. I mean the invention of the lightbulb was surviving, but now that we're in 3 wars, 14 trillion in debt, have 40 million people on foodstamps, have crippling regulations, and have a mass of human beings who think they're entitled to successful people's hard work, we're thriving!

But because we have the internet and we're obese, my point must be moot.