WWII - The last time we were a great country.

[tecelote]

We believed that war was a last resort and profiting from war was evil. Everyone sacrificed.

At least that's what I've heard.

But, war profits are too great to ignore and our morals were and are traded for blinders.

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Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC - 1881 to 1940

"I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force--the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was part of a racket all the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service." - Smedley Butler

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Today, profiting from war is acceptable to the point where we just keep creating more war and few care. Most think it's justified.

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[MillennialDem]

1. Don't kid yourself

Now, this is NOT meant at all as an insult to the American men and women who served (in Europe, Asia, and on the homefront) - and those who sacrificed or retrained and produced weapons and other essentials for the Allies....

But what the politicians, brass, and some top business people did

1. SOLD arms and other essentials to both the Allies and Axis.
1b. Expecting to be paid back for lend lease.

2. German-American and Japanese-American internment camps.

3. Dropping the two bombs on Japan... MAY HAVE SAVED lives in the aggregate... but was still used as a giant science experiment on human beings on a crippled nation... and meant to intimidate the Soviet Union.

4. Provoking both the Japanese and Germans before Pearl Harbor.

5. Slow in opening up a Western Front... letting the Soviet Union bear the brunt of the casualties....

5b. Claiming too much credit after the fact (partially Cold War propaganda - now repeated Ad nauseam by the historically illiterate):

"If not for us, you would have lost"
"America did the most in WW2"
"Germany lost because Russia attacked from the East and America from the West"
"D-Day was the most important/biggest battle of the war"

And many others...

The UK and USSR were going to win the war and could have without us. Even without lend-lease. It would have just taken longer. Germany lost her chance to win the war (and still would have won even with US involvement) in 1941 when Barbarossa failed to take Moscow. Subsequent, further dad decisions by the Austrian corporal in late 1941 and 1942 made it unsalvageable entirely.

Again, not a knock on those who bravely served and sacrificed. Just those at the top and in control - probably just as bad as now.

[appalachiablue]

2. Thanks for posting. Smedley Butler never lacked for courage, esp. to write these true words.

[Hortensis]

3. Actually, we did great things right up through the 70s. Then we stopped. But the achievements

of the generations just before that were rather magnificent, in spite of hideously expensive wars. If only we had fixed the inevitable problems and continued to build on our greatness. I'd enjoy being part of a smugly prosperous nation.

So, we start again.