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Comment by tourmalinetaco | Hacker News Reader

But listen, we have to defend democracy! (Despite being a federal republic.) We have to fund international interests! (Despite having various national problems.)

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If everyone in America thought that, most of us humans would be dead and the remnants of our species would speak German, Japanese, or Russian only

I strongly urge you to attend a history class, because only part of that is comparable to funding international wars for no gain or defensive reason. If the America of 1943 had the choice between its people or Ukraine, it would choose its people. Because that’s literally what we did while England and Poland was being bombed by the Nazis. It wasn’t until the Japanese made us get involved that we did anything. The closer example to now is indeed the cold war, but a lot of the “war on communism” was not only incredibly disruptive to smaller countries, and its efficacy over the long term was questionable, especially considering the USSR died out naturally.

> It wasn’t until the Japanese made us get involved that we did anything.

Lend-Lease began in 1941 - so we were exporting war materiel and technology years before we got directly involved in WW2.

It’s not nice or effective to imply I don’t know my history because I came to a conclusion you disagree with. For all you know I’m an absolute history nut.

It’s better to ask for my reasoning and explain your own opposing point of view.

You need new teachers then. The US was deeply involved long before Pearl Harbor, even if it didn’t have boots on the ground. The Soviets didn’t die out naturally, but due to the fierce competition with the US which they could not sustain that bankrupted them. North Korea never tried to compete in such a way which is why it continues to exist as a hermit Stalinist cult.

> especially considering the USSR died out naturally.

What does this mean? You seem to say the war on communism did nothing because we won it anyway? How can you tell?

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