Words: 2279
It was for the greater good of the country that some of its core values such as freedom were stripped away for the country. Some sacrifices had to be made including freedom to protect freedom. It was either us or them. If we didn’t have the stomach as many people do not today we would have lost. There is similarity between then and now post 9/11. The government ramped up security measures such as phone tapping, and spying even on Americans for the greater good of our population. Just think about it for a second.
Fifth United States of America had a better spy and information gathering organization that we had during the cold war in world war two we could have prevented many of these so called atrocities by people after the fact because information is king. We might be able to have prevented pearl harbor. We might be able to have prevented the atom bombs dropping. We might be able to have prevented some of the concentration camps. The list goes on which leads me to my next point. What if? That which we will never know had events gone another way leads many people to forget that we could have easily gone down another road.
What if we had attacked Germany earlier hen Stalin wanted to? Maybe we could have averted much of the cold war? Maybe not, but we will never know. And that’s what I wish critics would think of when blaming America with their hindsight. Yes some tanks that were meant to float sank in the D day invasion as highlighted by Adams in “The Best War Ever. ” But think about the amount of time that researchers had to come up with a “floating’ hunk of metal that was never meant to be a boat but a land vehicle. We put twenty plus years in to research and development now for stuff such as our jets.
But I think with what America had to work tit; we did a pretty good job. Yes it is unfortunate that stuff doesn’t work, but that just lets us improve upon them. We did not have much time for trial and error. I know people don’t want to think about it, but war is good for advancement of the human race. Think about what the space race or the nuclear arms race did for our country. It gave us satellites and alternative energy from fossil fuels. Sure we eventually would have discovered and made these and other advancements regardless of war or peace, but war speeds these advancements up.
Arguably the greatest invention of the latter half of the whiniest century was the internet which was first conceived to be a form of secure communication between the military. Of course we now know the internet as Faceable and Google. I’m not advocating war or saying it is good to fight, but it is undeniable that war is good for the speeding up of the advance of the human race in technological terms. What Were We fighting in the cold War besides the soviet union? We were fighting for the American way of life. That is to say we were fighting to uphold the American dream.
That is so say anyone can have the opportunity in America for prosperity and success. It was capitalism versus communism. It is in our nature to want to better ourselves and make our lives better whether it is through increased security, comfort, or enjoyment. This is why capitalism works so well even with its flaws. One person with an idea can make billions. That was why people went west in droves during the gold rush or why people went to Texas for cheap and free land. We want to better ourselves and make our children’s lives better than ours were.
People first moved from Europe to America to be able to free for a variety of reasons. But this has turned into what we think of as an unalienable right as American citizens. S only right that what we see as the best place in the world that we want to share it with others who aren’t as fortunate as we are. We also want to protect our interests and our way of life. This is why we fought the cold war. We wanted to spread capitalism and the political ideology that goes along with it while USSR wanted to spread communism and its political ideology. As good as communism sounds on paper we know it does not work like that.
It does not foster that drive that capitalism does. That drives to make it rich or make the world a better place which leads to advancement. So yes I think it is ND was necessary to protect our way of life and I think we should do any reasonable means to protect it. That is the key word though “reasonable. ” What is reasonable to someone is different from me or any other person. I believe that the Vietnam war was reasonable regardless of how it turned out. Just as invading Iraq was post 9/11. Sure we said we were going there for weapons of mass destruction.
But who cares if it was to protect our way of life and spread what we as Americans see as the best way to do business. I think that since we are the most powerful it just goes to show that we are right. Hunk it is great we went there to give Iraq a democracy and protect our interests in the region. Just the same as I think it was right to help South Korea against an oppressive North. What is the point in having a military? It is to protect us. It is as simple as that. That is why it is acceptable and even necessary to let the military step out of the confines of our laws set as citizens to protect America and our way of life.
Fifths means there is some collateral damage along the way I believe that it is acceptable. During war we may have to forgo some inconveniences for the national security of our country and live that it is acceptable. Whether it be conforming as in sass’s, suppressing the media like in world war ;o, or forgoing some privacy in post 9/1 1. People complain and protest like they but it is our laws and protection that afford this is. They often forget this and want more and more freedom or complain that they are being oppressed or that something is wrong.
We have to take measures to uphold this right that we are afforded, even if it means forgoing some freedom. Everyone likes to always look back and think what could have been done differently or better. But they forget that they eve hindsight. Of course this is my ideology and it may not be the same nor does it have to be as the person next to me, or my teacher, or president. Our system is not perfect but until there is another better one in place this will have to do. I just hope we don’t go to soft and afford our enemies to many of these same rights that they are trying to undermine.
People complain about Augmentation and say it is wrong, but say it is right for the people who are trying to take away these freedoms and our way of life. I believe that underlying their hate for us is the fact that they are jealous of us. Whether people think it is right, wrong or indifferent it is a well know fact that the strong survive. This strength can come in many forms. In world war two this was the industry and material might of America. In other instances it is the will to survive or to change something. Whoever has the will to survive is fit for survival.
We need to take whatever measures to ensure the survival of our country even at the expense of others. What would have happened if we had let the Soviets take whatever they wanted and enforce communism on the whole world but the United States? Well we would not be strong enough to fight back against so much. That was why it was fought. And now because others want to threaten our way of life we need to take measures to ensure our survival and that our freedom continues. I believe it is our duty as the world’s foremost superpower to uphold our fight for freedom and to give it to other who is not as fortunate as us.
This is why I think the wars of the past half century were right. We wanted to spread freedom and democracy. WI, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq were all in the right to help spread freedom to those oppressed people. That we have economic interests in them is just a side benefit. And soon unless China changes it ways I think e will have to fight for their people as well. Overall what you are asking is essentially the age old question of “does the end result justify the means to obtain it? It is the same question as would you let one baby die to save 100,000? How about 100 or 1000.
For some people the question is always no, but other it is yes or a more mixed response in the gray area. Things also change during peace or in war. Would you rather have 100,000 of your country’s people die or 1 00,000 of other countries if you had to pick? Well of course as a patriot I would pick the other countries people and this is exactly hat happened with the dropping of the atom bomb. I am not saying that dropping nuclear bombs is good but that at that time it was the right thing to do. Today do not believe in dropping nuclear bombs, but that is mostly because the enemy would most likely be able to retaliate in like kind.
That was why we went after Hussein, so that we could protect America and her interests and spread freedom. Part of protecting America is putting people who would threaten us out of power. And invading another country is right if that’s what it takes. For instance after 9/1 1 most of the majority of American population was fine and even demanded heightened security measures especially On planes. Now, however in 2012 people complain about TTS and how they shouldn’t be allowed to search certain stuff or that it has gotten out of hand. Its not always about what is seen or heard or reported upon.
How would the public react if it came to light that by increasing these measures 50 planned attacks were thwarted before they could succeed? If even one of these worked then the public would once again be terrorized as we were on 9/1 1 and thereafter. This is related to WI when America imprisoned the Japanese people who were in America. This was seen at the time as a necessary step as a precaution to what could happen. Looking back on it though it does look bad and seem extreme, but what if as a result of not doing this the Japanese were able to attack California and kill American civilians.
Alas we will never know, and critics so often forget that because something didn’t happen or was prevented that they assume it would never have happened. If Russia didn’t had not fallen in 1991 and we were still in the cold war today, who’s to say that we would not be losing and that China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran would be in an allegiance and dominating their will on us. Some people would ask why write this essay or why ask this question of was America right or wrong in what it did. And the answer is so that if we deem it was a mistake that in the future we might not make the same one.
Or if we deem it was right that we will make the same choice. This is the power of words and history. It does not matter much what I think unless what I think is what a majority’ of people believe as well or if I am in a power in the future to do something about which way this country goes. The fact that I am able to be here today in this age and write about these past two wars means that the end result in America’s favor. That makes it right. Because history is written by the winners. There are of course something that would have changed but that is with hindsight.
I do not believe we are in a place to act like we can put ourselves in peoples shoes of the past and deem that we would have done things differently. In fact believe we probably would have done things the same or very similar sisters Paramus. The alternative of course is that we had lost, and would not want to be living in a world where the Russians were in control and dominating communism on America. This is because we would have had the same knowledge and fears as the people in the past. Unfortunately this is almost what people are protesting for with the occupy wall street and the “1%” today.