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Kudos to the world's greatest propaganda ministry. They successfully eradicated any knowledge of the reason for American government - securing creator endowed rights and liberties - and replaced that with socialist democratic nonsense.
Praise be to the People's Democratic Socialist Republic, where whatever is not mandatory, is licensed, regulated, taxed or forbidden.
(And all for an aggregate tax of 41% of the GDP, too)
EVERY country would have resisted, we'd have been fighting the whole world all at once. What do people think we could have done, threatened to nuke them if they didn't fall under our sovereignty?
we didnt have to subjugate everybody after ww2 in order to just see to it that they didn't get nukes. Once we'd nuked Russia's three main cities, that would have been that! Without their having nukes, nobody would dare cause us much of a problem. Nobody but the US has ever developed a nuke from scratch. Russia stole the info from us, gave it to N Korea and China. China, fearing India, gave the info to Pakistan or Russia did so, fearing China. We gave it to France, Britain and Israel. Israel gave the info to S Africa, who stupidly gave it up. You dont just threaten people with nukes, you NUKE some of them, now and then to remind the rest why they dont mess with you.
Why not the simple solution? The US will allow no nukes anywhere. The US says simply it will destroy any attempt to build a nuclear weapon. We send in inspectors. If not allowed we nuke the site or sites.
There may be need to do deals with allies. But they just become part of the force.
And at the same time you move forward on producing the weapons and delivery systems using the WW2 muscle.
Purportedly there were 299 nuclear weapons by 1950. We likely could have doubled that is we made it a crucial national task.
I would strongly agree we were incapable of ruling the world. But why would we try?
We could however have ended up the controlling authority.
we didnt have to subjugate everybody after ww2 in order to just see to it that they didn't get nukes. Once we'd nuked Russia's three main cities, that would have been that! Without their having nukes, nobody would dare cause us much of a problem. Nobody but the US has ever developed a nuke from scratch. Russia stole the info from us, gave it to N Korea and China. China, fearing India, gave the info to Pakistan or Russia did so, fearing China. We gave it to France, Britain and Israel. Israel gave the info to S Africa, who stupidly gave it up. You dont just threaten people with nukes, you NUKE some of them, now and then to remind the rest why they dont mess with you.
Actually no, we developed our bomb from Britsin’s Tube Alloys project, and we didn’t give it to France , you’re wrong in that too. And we didn’t have realistic nuclear strike capability until after the Russians had the bomb, so your first strike scenario is pure fantasy.
Kudos to the world's greatest propaganda ministry. They successfully eradicated any knowledge of the reason for American government - securing creator endowed rights and liberties - and replaced that with socialist democratic nonsense.
If only "creator endowed rights and liberties" existed. Since they don't, we should maybe ask better questions about the best justification for the government.
When the war with Japan ended, the United States was in a unique position. In fact they held this until August of 1949. With a massive lead in infrastructure, and the ability to produce truly horrifying weapons of mass destruction they had a opportunity.
They could have chosen to unify the world under one government.
I deliberately did not read any other answers first, to avoid bias and complicating the answer. The premise that the US "could have chosen to unify the world under one government" is false, because even with atomic weapons, it could not happen. It was not possible, and could not be possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by greywar
Did the US make mistake at the end of WW2?
No, in fact even if the leaders wanted to take over even a small region after the war, it was not possible to do so. This is self evident when you learn exactly why no nuclear weapons were used in the next war.
(now I have to read the rest of the answers. Oh lucky me)
When the war with Japan ended, the United States was in a unique position. In fact they held this until August of 1949. With a massive lead in infrastructure, and the ability to produce truly horrifying weapons of mass destruction they had a opportunity.
*************
Soon we will face another such opportunity. Perhaps more then one. AI, and nanotechnology both can give a country the ability to rule the world-if they are first. And right now its not truly clear who will be the first. Will a country face the choice of using a weapon first, or allow that opportunity to pass as America did? I am not hopeful. Did the US make mistake at the end of WW2?
Our policy should have been a unilateral non-proliferation policy; any country besides the U.S. that gets nukes gets nuked.
The U.S. had no designs on the Soviet Union or China; none. There was no need for those countries to be allowed to go nuclear, other than a "one government, one world" fantasy of the supporters of the U.N.
I realize a post on Great Debates should be longer and I'll post more later.
.... By not doing this we risk the destruction of our species. Surely thats a bigger issue?....
Why?
Human animals are animals, and rather imperfectly developed ones. Sure, it's a BFD to you and me, because we are one of those human animals.
But for what other reason is it important?
Why is it a supposed "bigger issue"? Human animals vanish, and "Bingo!" it is a better world for everything from aardvarks to zebras, to trees, lakes and oceans.
When the war with Japan ended, the United States was in a unique position. In fact they held this until August of 1949. With a massive lead in infrastructure, and the ability to produce truly horrifying weapons of mass destruction they had a opportunity.
They could have chosen to unify the world under one government. But it would have required a horrific moral and ethical cost. More nuclear weapons would have absolutely been deployed. America would have been the bad guys.
BUT-look at where we went because we did not. We live with the fear of global nuclear annihilation. Multiple countries can destroy the world, and many unstable countries have nuclear weapons. This was very predictable. By not doing this we risk the destruction of our species. Surely thats a bigger issue?
Soon we will face another such opportunity. Perhaps more then one. AI, and nanotechnology both can give a country the ability to rule the world-if they are first. And right now its not truly clear who will be the first. Will a country face the choice of using a weapon first, or allow that opportunity to pass as America did? I am not hopeful. Did the US make mistake at the end of WW2?
Why exactly should Americans conquer the world and thus cause themselves to be outnumbered? After all, surely all of these newly conquered peoples are going to demand both the right to vote and the right to immigrate to the U.S. without any restrictions. Thus, why should Americans create a situation where they themselves will be outnumbered?
Why exactly should Americans conquer the world and thus cause themselves to be outnumbered? After all, surely all of these newly conquered peoples are going to demand both the right to vote and the right to immigrate to the U.S. without any restrictions. Thus, why should Americans create a situation where they themselves will be outnumbered?
There is no rational reason why the US would have been interested in world conquest after WW2. The whole thought is absurd.
The sad thing though is that we passed on the Peace Americana. Which we could have compelled with our nuclear might. The correct issue is why we did not force the rest of the world to be nuclear free. I would be of the opinion it was a wonderful opportunity lost.
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Why not the simple solution?
