There are literally hundreds of things dumb governments and dumb presidents have foisted off to the American public. Getting us into World War One is a classic example. Woodrow Wilson wanted us in, and stupid Congress approved it. World War One had nothing whatsoever to do with us! Absolutely NOTHING. It began on June 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated at Sarajevo Serbia, and within two months, German Kaiser Wilhelm promised to help Austria, Austria declared war on Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia, invaded and declared war on France, and Britain declared war on Germany. In the following six months, Turkey sided with Germany, and German Zeppelins flew over Britain and bombed it. On February 19th, 1915, Britain bombed Turkish forts in the Dardanelles. ALL BECAUSE OF ONE ASSASSINATION! See anything that should have involved America? Then, the Lusitania was sunk.
Politicians just LOVE to keep America in wars, as it keeps the military-industrial complex in profits. In the case of World War One, the sinking of the Lusitania was one of the excuses which got us into it. The Lusitania was a 32,000 ton Cunard liner which sailed from New York in April 1915, and was headed for Liverpool, England. It was bragged that the ship was the largest and fastest ship of any plying the Atlantic, and could easily out run any German submarine. All went well, till the ship was in sight of the Irish coast on May 7th. It was torpedoed by a German submarine and sunk in 18 minutes with 1153 drowned. It soon was discovered that the Lusitania had 4200 cases of small arms ammunition on board, and that’s why she was sunk. America was stupidly involved. The German submarine had not bothered any number of other ships…which were not carrying ammunition. Presto! America joined in a war which had absolutely nothing to do with us! 4,272,500 Americans were drafted or joined, and my Dad was one of them. He could never understand why we were in it. He never went overseas, so he came out OK. It cost America 117,000 dead and 240,000 wounded. Of course all the British nations had to get involved, but it had nothing to do with Britain either, for that matter. Supposed the Brits had no gotten involved? Would it have been a mere skirmish which would have soon been solved?
World War One killed 15 million, and wounded 20 million. All because of one assassination. World War One cost $186 billion in 1918 dollars, and $151 Billion in related costs. It got Russia into Communism, Italy into Fascism, destroyed four empires, and was in all probability responsible for the 1918 flu which killed 25 Million people world wide.
Would it have been even a third as bad if America had said, “No thanks?” A Dumb government decision, and actions which killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of Americans, and the Treaty of Versailles brought Hitler into Power. World War One was an unmitigated horror and disaster, and there was simply no excuse for America to have ever gotten involved. Just another example of dumb government, and we all suffer from its mistakes.
P.S. In the latest debates, Herman Cain said that he thinks Alan Greenspan is wonderful. Ron Paul corrected him by saying that Greenspan was a disaster. Forget Cain! Unfortunately, he is now at the top in the surveys.