Replace the constitution :rolleyes:

[Dom Pedro II]

But honestly, who wouldn't want to loot it? Maybe not stick around, but just take what you can and run?

I'm sure Hitler would've liked to some of the fine quality items being produced in American factories...

[Japher]

Like nuclear weapons.

[St Leo]

Replace the Right to Bear Arms with the Right to Use the Internet and I am fine with it in the current form.

[Kuciwalker]

What should we learn from this thread?

DF is a moron and should be banned, just to lighten the load on the server.

Repeat three times and you've got it.

[Boris Godunov]

Re: German designs on the U.S.

I haven't seen any evidence whatsoever that Germany had any plans on invading and conquering the U.S. I'm amazed at the notion, actually, since it has been shown rather conclusively that Germany was incapable of even invading and conquering the U.K., which was only a channel's distance away.

On the contrary, Hitler expressed dismay at the war with Great Britain. He had viewd the Anglo-Saxons as the brothers of German Aryans, ethnic equals who should be allies, not enemies. Considering the U.S.'s predominately WASP population, I think it's safe to say his attitude was similar to Americans.

Germany and Japan getting the bomb in time to be a threat? Not remotely. Germany's nuclear program was nascient when the hard water supplies were lost, and then it was totally abandoned. Hitler had driven away the best and brightest physicists. Their espionage in the U.S. was laughable. Japan didn't even have a nuclear program, IIRC. And there wasn't any way Japanese spies were getting into sensitive Manhattan Project secrets.

Had the U.S. been totally isolationist and not sent any aid to the U.K. and the Soviet Union, I'm not convinced the Nazis wouldn't have won. I think there's a compelling argument to be made that U.S. help tipped the precarious balance on the Eastern Front, while it sustained much of the U.K.'s resistance. Regardless, I think Hitler would have been unable to retain what he had conquered for long. Even with victory, the Eastern Front would have drained so much from the German military power that it would have a devastating effect on the future cohesion of the Nazi empire. Remember that uprisings were frequent, and the Nazis spent considerable resources just quelling rebellions in occupied territories. The Nazi empire was doomed to collapse.

However, hindsight is 20/20, and we're looking at this with our own eyes instead of those of the people at the time.

First, the American population overwhelmingly opposed Nazism and favored supporting the U.K. in its war effort. Our representatives dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the electorate. Second, by the time Pearl Harbor came, most Americans already favored direct intervention. Once again, democracy spoke. You see, regardless of our analyzing of the threat, to the people at the time it was a huge threat. They had no way of knowing that Barbarossa was the colossal mistake as we know it is today. They had no way of knowing of the potential collapse of Nazi control. All people saw was this fascist empire gobbling up a large chunk of the world. Considering attitudes that probably came down from WWI regarding German military aggression, I can't help but think people thought that if they didn't stop them at this point, they would keep coming back again and again, waging more wars. I also believe that if American public had been aware earlier of the true extent of the Nazi genocide, we would have had even stronger public support for the war.

I think WW2 was probably the only international war we've fought that was morally justifiable. The price of allowing Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan to establish tyrannical, murderous hegemonies over huge swaths of the world was just too much, and it was indeed a threat to U.S. interests, if not immediate national security, as well as the interests of the world in general. Even so, standing up to Hitler required a transcending of notions of purely national interests and a care for the well-being of people everywhere.

[Dom Pedro II]

Well said.

[Kuciwalker]

Plus, I like to note how DF criticizes FDR for doing what the public wanted - in a democracy

However, it doesn't surprise me. However much DF preaches democracy et al, he seems to actually want his own little fascist regime.

My point is that even if 75% of the states want to ban alcohol, they still shouldn't be able to.

So democracy is only okay as long as the majority agrees with your worldview?

[Imran Siddiqui]

skywalker, he's already said that he doesn't care for democracy as long as all his 'rights' and 'liberty' are protected by the dictator, or whoever.

[Kuciwalker]

How does that work...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Enlightened dictatorship? :shrug:

[Kuciwalker]

[Dom Pedro II]

Much like enlightened despotism I would imagine... throw back to the good ol' days of Europe during the time of absolute monarchy.

[Ramo]

There are no moral absolutes.

Except for that one, naturally

That isn't an absolute assertion, for it takes for granted the fundamental assumption of logic; namely that a self-contradicting system is logically invalid.

In other words, the statement is:
Assuming the system of logic, there are no moral absolutes (or any other kinds of absolutes for that matter).

[Berzerker]

Dinodoc -

An isolationist power wouldn't be selling weapons to one side of a conflict (provided it was going to sell weapons to any side) if it wished to remain isolationist.

Isolationism wrt to Europe's wars does not translate into shutting down trade, and since the Nazis were the aggressors, it stands to reason we'd be more inclined to trade with our closer affiliations such as England.

skywalker & Imran - Since when does a rejection of "democracy" = an "enlightened dictatorship"? And skywalker, grow up. Your behavior toward David is immature...

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Berzerker
Isolationism wrt to Europe's wars does not translate into shutting down trade, and since the Nazis were the aggressors, it stands to reason we'd be more inclined to trade with our closer affiliations such as England.

Then your just delaying the inevitable because as your merchant ships become the target of Nazi ships, you will be dragged into the war.