American Expansion: True or False, Accident or Planned?

If you go back in the history of the United States, it doesn't take long to find the first instance of an attempted coup. Amazing, if we caught another country doing the same to us, we would annihilate them from the face of the planet, or at least their leadership. Thomas Jefferson was the first to try and overthrow the government of one of the Barbary Pirate governments along the Barbary Coast in Africa. Hence the verse "from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli". I often point out the Treaty of Tripoli to people that think our country was founded on religion. This is the only document from that time period that says, hey we aren't that damn nice. If you have never read it, I suggest you do so. There are few teachers who have read it, much to their surprise when they say that our government was founded on Christian Principles. No, our government was founded on a store keepers principles. If you try to intercept our shipments, unfairly tax our corn or loiter without buying anything, we are going to have a problem.

Don't believe me, look at our laws after WWI and before WWII. Those laws stated that you could only buy stuff from us if you paid cash (no credit) and you have to carry it home yourself (your boat). Now, if those are not store keepers principles, there are none, which is close as well. Before the big world wars, America was trying its best to become an empire. We started with simple possessions, we took Florida from Spain (via spies in Spain, look it up) We took Cuba (allot of good that did us). We even fought a war with Espana (Spain to us, The Kingdom of Espana to them). We are an arrogant bunch, but then again, we like it that way. It's in our blood. All those years of oppression at the hands of aristocrats and we traded it all in for freedom and oppression at the hands of aristocrats. (Damn we messed up there didn't we). Then we got Teddy Bear as children remember him, Theodore Roosevelt to Historians. Teddy or Theodore wanted a canal across Central America.

He went to Congress and even sent a surveyor to walk across Nicaragua and find a path. The Free French had tried twice, they went broke. They have always been terrible with money, hence their status as a third rate power. Since 1514 (Europeans) people have been using the Isthmus of Panama to cross from ocean to ocean with cargo trying to avoid the long passage around South America. The Spanish called it the El Camino Real. ( they would have loved to have a truck that looked like a car, I guess that is why they had a road that they wished was a river) In 1850 a railroad was built to carry gold from America's newest state (California) to the east coast. When the French decided to build a canal, the railroad was the deciding factor. (at the time, that rail line carried more freight per mile than any rail line in the world) Like I said before, the French then tried twice to build a canal, going broke both times (terrible with money). In 1901, the United States got Teddy, who believing that the canal was vital to national security, pushed the project through with sure will power. The Congress failed to back him so he issued an executive order.

If you look back to this moment, that is when the President really gained the central power of the Government. Executive orders regularly roll off the Presidents pen since that point. Anyway, back to Teddy. Teddy negotiated with the Colombians for the French Canal which their Colombian Senate failed to ratify. Teddy being Teddy, decided to back a Panamanian coup. The USS Nashville was sent to back the rebels and once he had what he wanted, he did what Americans always do, he denied the whole thing. That is until after he left the White House, when a reporter asked him a question about the whole thing, he said something to the effect that, "Hell, I bought that country." Or something to that effect, you can look it up if you want to know exactly what he said. It really caused an international incident considering we had the Monroe Doctrine backed by Teddy's "Big Stick".

The point of all of that was that America has always taken what it wants, even if we have to look you in the eye and lie about it. Now, I know what all my fellow American's are thinking. What, we never lie...O.K. we never lie to other countries...O.K. we only lie when it's vital to National Security....or we want something....Through all of this we never really had an intelligence unit. We had Naval Intelligence and Army Intelligence, but it would take two world wars before we decided to have a intelligence agency on par with the dirtiest, nastiest bastards out there. That is one thing I love about America, we will stay up until four in the morning to kill your family if we have to. Now, now, it's not like you haven't done the same thing, and we only kill our own people when were told to. O.K, Canada, you got us, you have never killed anyone in their sleep. You people are just too d@*^ polite. What is interesting about the C.I.A. is that by definition they are a conspiracy, which in America we are programmed to believe that anyone who says the words, "Conspiracy and Theory" in the same sentence, must be insane or at least crazy and should replace their tin foil hat.

Once you get past our slight expansionism around the turn of the last century, things kind of got stale. The world had already been parceled out. The British had about one quarter of it, the French had about one eighth, Spain had about a sixteenth of it and the Austrians and Germans had a piece and the Japanese and the Russians had a piece. That was about it, a few countries had fought to divide the world up over the last three or four centuries. The problem was that Germany wanted just a little more. So, they tried to take it. They might have succeeded, except they got just a little too greedy and tried all at once. Had they taken their time and waited until the mid-forties or fifties to try and take the British and the Soviets on, they would have had a better chance. They could have done what we do, lie. Well they tried that at first, "we only want a little slice of Poland" and we all bought it.

Hitler and his Nazi crew came along at a time in history at the perfect moment (for crazy bastards). Europe was all fought out, they didn't want anymore. The U.S. was in an isolationist state with a cash and carry policy and the Soviets were just getting over killing each other. Really an opportune moment. The Great Powers at the time tried appeasement, they also really believed that the League of Nations had some power to control countries. It just might have, had Wilson (Woodrow that is) had been able to get the Leagues charter passed by Congress. Congress wasn't in the mood to get involved in other people's business. We had the feeling that our oceans would protect us. Which in a way, they did. Hitler being the mad midget that he was, tried to take the entire world in a decade. Stupid move on his part. The reason that they eventually lost was that we out spent them. If you look at a history book here in America, we give ourselves 99% of the credit for winning that war. Which if you consider that the Soviets killed ten million of the thirteen million Germans killed during the war, you might have to reconsider that. When you factor in the lend-lease program, maybe we could take 65% of the credit, but not much more for the European part of the war. The Japanese part, that was all us.

The point of dragging Hitler into American Expansion is this. If there had never been a Hitler, would there have ever been a reason for America to become the worlds largest military power? Would there have ever been an arms race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R? I am not sure. Before WWII, Britain was probably the worlds largest "power" with Germany close behind. If you look at things like GDP and education, then you could count the U.S. in the race. However, if you look at military power, then Britain would be number one with Germany a close second. Then the U.S.S.R would have been third just because of sheer manpower. At the time, the U.S. had the second largest navy behind the British Royal Navy, but our army was ranked something like nineteenth in the world somewhere behind Portugal. We were quite conservative militarily. It wasn't until Roosevelt (F.D.R.) realized that if we didn't do something to help the British stop the Germans, then they would eventually control all of Europe, then they would come for us.

Strange thing about WWII is that when we found out about the genocide of the Jewish people, I am pretty sure our government said something to the effect that we would never allow such a thing to happen again. Well, I guess that Rwanda, Cambodia and Bosnia just weren't politically expedient enough for us to get involved. Never again, eh? I guess if the Rwandans were rich we would have considered bailing them out. Bosnia, isn't that Russia's problem? Cambodia, must be up to China or Japan. What the hell happened. Not enough resources worth fighting over to prevent the killing of millions of people? I digress, I have strayed. If there had never been a Hitler and a World War II, then the United States might not have ever had the chance to become the super-power that it is today. We wouldn't have that target on our back either. The Muslims would still hate the British, which I guess they do anyway. But you have to wonder what our world would be like if the whole thing had never happened. Would there be a McDonald's in Beijing? Would Beijing even be Communist? Would China control the Panama Canal? Funny thing about that is that when the canal first opened, no Chinese people were allowed to go through the canal.

Would America and the rest of the world have ever come out of the great depression? You have to wonder if without WWII if America would have been as prosperous? We were the only country to come out of the war better off than any other country. Leading us to believe that war (as long as it's not fought here) is really good for our economy. If you look back at American History, you will find that we have been involved in a war ever since Japan bombed us. Making us the wealthiest country in the world. After the war we were the largest lender nation in the world. My how times have turned, we have now become mired in an un-winnable war. We are the worlds largest debtor nation. However, we are still light-years ahead of our closest rival, China. We don't have millions of peasants, we still manage to lead the world in technology, although that lead is being whittled away at. We still have the highest standard of living in the world. See, I told you we could look you in the eye and lie to you.......

We might not have become the masters of the world. Britain wouldn't sit on our knee like a puppet. France wouldn't be the puppet that we never take out of the case because no one likes it, it's rude and worn. Germany wouldn't have become our bitch. Yes, I said it. There was a lesson in Germany that we should employ in Afghanistan, after WWII, we hired the tame Nazi's to kill off the radical ones, not something that is well known, but true. However, the long term effect of WWII was exactly what the Nazi's were trying to do. Europe is one, ruled by a little Hitler look alike, the exact same result as if he had won. The Soviet Union has fallen and is struggling to maintain its position in the world. The middle east is divided and fractured, with everyone wanting to reunite the Ottoman Empire but no one willing to let someone else rule. Where we go from here is anyone's guess. Right now in the History of the World, the United States seems to be in the same position that Britain was before WWII. Could it be that the power of America has wained? Are we on the down hill slide toward being another France? God forbid.....I am not sure, I am just an armchair historian, if there is such a thing, looking through the history books written by the victor trying to find the truth and what that truth really means.....hold on tight people, it could be a rough ride.......