As a historian, there are 4 words that just drive me crazy; "It can't happen here"
I hear them in one form or another all the time when people are talking about the US.
I hate to point this out, but almost everything that Americans don't think that can happen already has happened, in some instances, more than once.
For example, "the dollar is the world currency, it can't fail". Wrong. It has already failed twice in the last 237 years. The first time was 1787. Up to that point, the "Continental dollar" was the American currency. The failure is still in the American lexicon; "not worth a Continental. The second time was in 1860. The southern states brought out confederate money and it was the accepted currency in the southern states for the duration of the civil war.
The US Dollar actually became the worlds reserve currency after WWII. It wasn't necessarily because the dollar was so great, it was because the British Pound was weakened because of the war. The US loaned England tons of money during WWII and the dollar strengthened when England devalued the Pound to pay the US back.
The dollar at the time was backed by gold which Nixon removed in 1971. The dollar was then backed by silver but now, the dollar is backed by "the full faith and credit of the USA". Since the credit rating of the USA is no longer AAA, the dollar is rapidly losing its strength.
Just after WWII, the "almighty dollar" was almighty. You could go anywhere in the world with dollars and they were gladly accepted. There were few places that you could go in the world where the people weren't aware of what the exchange rate of the local currency to the dollar was. I went all over the world in the 70s with dollars and I could walk into any bank and make a money exchange. It is not that way today.
"The US government can't fail":
It has already failed twice. Once in 1787 and again in 1860. In 1787, the present government arose out of the failure of the first attempt at government and I think a civil war certainly rates as a governmental failure. If the south had won, the US would be vastly different today. If there had been no winner, the US would not exist in its present form either. The government can fail and most failures are over financial problems.
"The US is the greatest military power in history"
Not even close. The Romans had the greatest military in history. They conquered and held more territory for more time than any military in history. They conquered all of Europe, parts of England and most of the south side of the Mediterranean and down thru what is now Israel. And they held it for about 400 years. The Ottoman Empire was next. They controlled everything from the Arabian sea to the southern part of Europe and they held it for 200+ years. At one point, they invaded Greece and managed to land 300,000 soldiers across the Mediterranean in under a week. The US can't come close to that today.
The US does have a good military but I'm not sure just how useful that they are against a real enemy. China and Russia are way too large to conquer. We might be able to win a nuclear showdown but the damage to the US would be crippling. Both Russia and China would recover quicker.
Just using our military since WWII, I can't think of a war that the US has truly won. Certainly not the Korean was, Vietnam, Iraq or Afganistan.
"There will never be riots in the US"
You have to be brain dead to believe that. Just in my lifetime there has been serious riots. The civil rights movements had riots, Vietnam, there were serious riots in Watts and the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. In Wisconsin, there were riots over labor union problems. The thing that really worries me is the amount of guns in the US. Ruger had orders for over a million weapons in the first quarter of 2012 and had to quit taking orders. More weapons were bought this Christmas holiday than ever in history. The American people are arming up. So is the government. The "War between the States" was one of the worst percentage wise for casualties. Everyone owned a gun and knew how to use it. If serious riots take place in the US again, there will be heavy casualties.
"The government will protect us":
Only as long as the government is not in danger of falling. At that point, the government will do whatever it has to protect its power. Just go look at what is happening in Syria at the moment.
"We're a nation of laws":
Only as long as it suits the government to enforce the laws that it likes, then things change. Lincoln has the US military attack Sumter, SC. Roosevelt confiscated gold and locked up people of Japanese ancestery and confiscated their homes. Obama over rode the bondholders at GM and Chrysler. All this was done "for the good of the Republic".
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