Would the world be better off if the United States had never existed?

[Anonymous]

250 years of wars, racism, interference with other countries, predatory capitalism, and now Trump. Was this all really worth it?

[OneViewpoint]

It's a good question. The problem is European Colonialism was raging back in the late 1700's. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Dutch were all trying to expand or create their empires in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the New World. So...

• Some asshole was gonna invade North America and wipe out the indigenous people with guns or disease.
• Monarchies, Feudalism, Capitalism, Dictatorships, take your choice. The USA was supposedly founded to escape a corrupt monarchy. It was immediately seized by greedy corrupt Capitalists who used actual slavery or economic slavery to create a version of a feudalist society of rich and poor. That probably doesn't change with different Europeans in charge. Aristocracy, rich and poor, has always been the default outcome of any human civilization. And it was the system all Europeans were born into. Would the nuances be different? Sure. Would the differences matter to the average peasant? No.
• With wealth comes power. And the "New World" held virtually unlimited resources. Once you have power, it will only be a matter of time before you create a reason to use it. Would that change? Nope.
• The one thing that would maybe change the outcome is if the USA never came into possession of a continuous landmass that connected the Atlantic and Pacific. Say the Spanish held everything West of the Mississippi while France held everything East of the river. The same would need to happen with Canada, no coast to coast nation. But that would basically look like Europe. Look at European history as far as wars are concerned.
• White Europeans have a history of greed, war, and brutality unmatched by any other group of people on this planet.
• Maybe the best possible outcome would have been if the British beat their American colonies into submission and the was never any Declaration Of Independence. The British were not horrible colonial owners as colonialism goes. And they eventually dumped their king themselves.

[slatyb]

The only thing special about the United States is that Europeans found a sparsely populated continent, dispossessed the people, and exploited the natural resources. This made them relatively wealthy and able to wield influence worldwide. The Europeans had been doing this for centuries before, but there were too many people in Asia and Africa to kill them all.

[MrChinaski]

Hey!!! We did that too!!!

[zagor]

But the people already here were on a sparsely populated continent and had access to the same resources. And cut out hearts on altars.

[slatyb]

@zagor So they deserved to be killed? What happened in North America was a crime against humanity. And there was no human sacrifice in North America,

[andreasderjuengere]

Clearly not.

We others would be clueless about

- freedom

- monetary value

- ''democracy' and 'republicacy'

- freedom of not speaking wrongly

- the supremacy of nukes

- the knowledge about genders and sexualities that were unheard of in earlier history

Further: pizza perversion, language devolution, the merits of obesity, cable ties and the electric guitar.

Also: important inventions like superhero cartoons, TV coverage of more than 480 hours per day, the enlightenments of free journalism, etc. would not have happened.

More: we are blessed with one only nation watching over things that go wrong elsewhere.

[strateguy632]

your reasons are for 'if democrats were never racist'. our interference saved #kuwait and south vietnam and south korea and france in 250 years. nazis would be delighted if america did not save Europe. communist would be delighted if we did not interfere in south korea. iran would be delighted if we let them fund terror. i guess you are on that side?

[Anonymous]

Wars happened before then
Racism existed too
Interference with other countries... may I introduce the British empire?
Capitalism like Marcus Licinius Crassus buying burning houses for next to nothing then extinguishing the fire
Okay fair enough I can't counter Trump

Without the USA, Hitler would have won World War 2 for a start

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Most Americans are of German/British descent, so in a certain sense, Hitler did win the war. The most powerful nation on Earth is majority White with the same ancestors as Hitler himself.

[Opinion Owner]

And Genghis and the Mongols ravaged from Poland to Korea so that whole area is still Mongolian by the same principle?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I honestly don't remember much about the Mongols from world history class, except they had the best Mounted Archers in world history, and they loved to rape their enemy's wives.

[Asker]

It's nice that you have that opinion. Unfortunately, I think the British and the Russians would object to it.

[darkcloud1945]

It is better than Communism, which has only lasted about one hundred years. What Shangrala do you think your goin to have? We're still a work in progress. Please tell where the eutopia that you are thinking about has worked before.

[Asker]

Communism works just fine in certain Scandinavian countries, and most notably in Vietnam. If it would work well in Cuba were it not for the American embargo

[strateguy632]

but norway is capitalist same as u. s.

[Asker]

@strateguy632 yeah, they have a certain amount of capitalism. Generally speaking, capitalism economically and socialism politically seem to work well together. That's what they have in Norway. What we have in the United States is predatory capitalism, which means essentially corruption from the top all the way to the bottom. You see how well that's not working.

[lightbulb27]

lol, you should have seen china prior to communists take over.

no we are a beacon of light to the world. and occasionally, a sledge hammer.

[exitseven]

No, the US has been an inspiration for the rest of the world.

[Asker]

Yes, an inspiration to develop ever more criminal business models and better weapons including nuclear weapons to discourage the United States from invading their countries and assassinating their leaders. Very inspiring.

[strateguy632]

you wanna discourage us from invading iran? don't give money to hezbolla. we would treat you like Canada!

[zagor]

Assuming the US had never rose to power, who would have filled the vacuum? Stalin? British imperialists?

[Asker]

I gather you somehow think that American imperialists are better?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

England would control the entire world right now, and everyone would be their slaves.

[Just_Ken]

Lol who fought wars to end slavery for the first time in history?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

@Just_Ken Slavery was a good economic system. It worked for at least 45 thousand years.

[Anonymous]

Everything America has accomplished has been overshadowed by Trump unfortunately

[strateguy632]

you don't like that trump opposed evil in nigeria and middle east. which side are you on?