Quote:
Originally posted by PornoDoggy@Aug 21 2004, 07:42 AM
Could you please enlighten me as to what some of the signs of the so-called decline that began at the turn of the 20th century were?
|
as i product of the american public school system i can sympathise with those who have not a clue about american history. public schools are great for indoctrination and teaching kids to do what they're told for 8 hours a day, but piss-poor for education.
so for those of you who don't know about the development of the US empire in the early 20th century, i'd say the start was in the phillipines:
"The basic causes of the Philippine-American War can be found in the U.S. government's quest for an overseas empire and the desire of the Filipino people for freedom. In other words, this war was a clash between the forces of imperialism and nationalism."
http://www.historyguy.com/PhilipineAmericanwar.html
(wow, that sounds just like the current situation in iraq)
then we have WWI, when the US went out of it's way to involve itself in a war it had no interest in.
Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. "No one but the President," he said, "seems to be expected... to look out for the general interests of the country."
He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy."
http://www.firstworldwar.com/
(wow, that sounds just like the current situation in iraq)
and as for "so-called decline", bill bonner
http://www.dailyreckoning.com/ summed it up nicely this week in a note how americans are so full of themselves:
"Precambrian, Cambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic...
Tribe...monarchy...empire...democracy...
Americans seem to think that history has come to a dead stop - with them on top of the world."