Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Nick Shaw – According to the revisionists at Vox, a USA in which the Continental Army was crushed and George Washington defeated would have been more like Canada, would have passed stronger climate laws.
3 reasons the American Revolution was a mistake
Happy Fourth!
By Dylan Matthews@dylanmattdylan@vox.com Updated Jul 3, 2018, 11:57am EDTThis July 4, let’s not mince words: American independence in 1776 was a monumental mistake. We should be mourning the fact that we left the United Kingdom, not cheering it.
Of course, evaluating the wisdom of the American Revolution means dealing with counterfactuals. As any historian would tell you, this is a messy business. We obviously can’t be entirely sure how America would have fared if it had stayed in the British Empire longer, perhaps gaining independence a century or so later, along with Canada.
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America would have a better system of government if we’d stuck with Britain
Honestly, I think earlier abolition alone is enough to make the case against the revolution, and it combined with less-horrible treatment of American Indians is more than enough. But it’s worth taking a second to praise a less important but still significant consequence of the US sticking with Britain: we would’ve, in all likelihood, become a parliamentary democracy rather than a presidential one.
And parliamentary democracies are a lot, lot better than presidential ones. They’re significantly less likely to collapse into dictatorship because they don’t lead to irresolvable conflicts between, say, the president and the legislature. They lead to much less gridlock.
In the US, activists wanting to put a price on carbon emissions spent years trying to put together a coalition to make it happen, mobilizing sympathetic businesses and philanthropists and attempting to make bipartisan coalition — and they still failed to pass cap and trade, after millions of dollars and man hours. In the UK, the Conservative government decided it wanted a carbon tax. So there was a carbon tax. Just like that. Passing big, necessary legislation — in this case, legislation that’s literally necessary to save the planet — is a whole lot easier with parliaments than with presidential systems.
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Read more: https://www.vox.com/2015/7/2/8884885/american-revolution-mistake
Every time I think I’ve seen the worst, most vile freedom hating sentiments which will ever be expressed by greens, they manage to shock me with some new low. Wishing that Americans had remained enslaved without political representation a little longer, just long enough to have your desire for liberty knocked out of you so you would more readily accept green tyranny, its going to be tough to beat that one.
We DO know what would have happened….The German Empire would have defeated the British and the French in the first World War.
The great American industrial Nation would never have happened because the America that created that wave of Free Enterprise would never have happened and America would have been more like Australia and Canada, than America….. nations of welfare slaves bent to the will of a political elite, with barely the free will to think for themselves.
And thus, the cream of American manhood would have been butchered on the Somme and the fields of Flanders in 1914-15 as just another colonial army in the great war… and no Industrialized America would have turned up in 1917-18 and broken the spirit of the German army with its unlimited manpower, fighting spirit and industrialism.
Vox are a bunch of ignorant and uneducated fools. Chimpanzees playing with typewriters.
That the US won WWI by sending its troops to Europe in 1917 is a fallacy. The US may have shortened the war by a few months, but did not affect the overall outcome. It was Britain’s Royal Navy that defeated Germany, not by winning any major battles but just by sitting on Germany’s front doorstep.
Prior to the war, Germany was self sufficient in food production. However, take away a few million men by recruiting them into the army, and agricultural production necessarily plummets in a non-mechanised agricultural society (there were very few tractors in pre-war Germany, for example). The same considerations applied to Britain and France, but both were able to import food from overseas. Not so the Germans, who were blockaded by the Royal Navy. By the winter of 1917/18, Germany was seriously short of food, and there was a significant danger of civil uprisings. Of greater immediate danger to the military was the inability of Germany to supply its own troops. By the winter of 1917/18, it is well documented that German troops were raiding the Allied lines for food.
The German Spring offensive of 1918 was a desperation effort by Germany. It had to do something or lose the war by default as German civilian morale collapsed on the home front. One of the reasons that the, admittedly brilliantly planned and executed, offensive failed was that whenever German troops overran Allied supply dumps, they sat down and gorged themselves for a few day and could not be moved by their officers.
Germany learned its lesson, that food production. or lack of it, trumps everything in the long run. During World War II, Germany overran much of the food-producing areas and their populations in Europe, so food was never a major issue until the very end. Germany had to be pounded to pieces in WWII before it surrendered. But let’s not forget that the real heavy lifting against Germany in WWII was done by the Russians.
I have read that all parties were starting to talk about an armistice when the US joined the war.
The French army mutinied in 1917.
French Army C-in-C Pétain conducted some successful but limited offensives in the latter part of 1917, unlike the British who stalled in an unsuccessful offensive at Passchendaele that autumn. Pétain, instead, held off from major French offensives until the Americans arrived in force on the front lines, which did not happen until the early summer of 1918. He was also waiting for the new Renault FT tanks to be introduced in large numbers, hence his statement at the time: “I am waiting for the tanks and the Americans.”
Little known fact is that US II Corps (27th and 30th Divisions) was under Australian command at the pivotal Battle of St Quentin Canal, 29 September to 10 October 1918.
American divisions were twice the size of Commonwealth and French formations, so the US troops were a vital addition to Monash’s forces.
As were the other two million Doughboys to the whole Allied counteroffensive which forced the armistice in November. Sine qua non, in fact.
The blockade did indeed cause huge suffering in Germany. But the divisions transferred from the East after the peace with Lenin would have reached Paris but for the Americans.
The Germans knew they had to win before Americans arrived in force. Their spring offensive bogged down, but without US troops, the allies couldn’t have broken through German defenses. A stalemate, with slightly different front lines, would have recurred.
The British blockade would have been broken by Germany’s ability to buy food from Ukraine and Russia.
“A stalemate, with slightly different front lines, would have recurred.”
Until 1919, when the next million American troops were scheduled to arrive. I’ve read that it was German realization (by some in its high echelons) of the certainty of this prospect that encouraged it to agree to an armistice.
The stalemate assumes that no US troops arrived at all.
France and Britain could have stopped the Spring Offensive, but would have lacked the ability to go over to the offensive themselves.
My comment responded to Roger’s claim that American troops made no difference in the outcome of the Great War.
In fact, the Allies didn’t stop the Ludendorff Offensive. The Germans simply outran their logistical capabilities. The attack relied upon storm troopers, who were lightly armed and equipped. Once they were dead or used up all their ammo, they couldn’t be replaced or resupplied.
But on the defensive again, the Allies, even with splendid Australian assault troops, couldn’t have broken through the Hindenburg Line without two million fresh, eager, strapping, athletic Yanks Over There.
The Marine Brigade attached to US Army’s 2nd Infantry Division at Belleau Wood, now the Bois de la Brigade de Marine:
“My comment responded to Roger’s claim that American troops made no difference in the outcome of the Great War.”
To clarify, the “Roger” being referred to is Roger Graves at the top of this set of comments, not me, who made no such claim.
“the Allies, … couldn’t have broken through the Hindenburg Line without two million fresh, eager, strapping, athletic Yanks Over There.”
Were there really two million there at that point? (I’m probably wrong.)
Yes, there were. Each month there were more Americans.
From the end of the Kaiserschlacht in the spring to the allied offensive in the autumn, US troop strength grew from one million to two.
Kaiser Willy made a big mistake to try to get Mexico involved by invading the US.
No, the Brits had starved them into submission and forced them to sign the Armistice. Even after the cease fire, the blockade continued, expanded to include North Sea fishing. It was requests to be sent home on the part of British Army forces in the Rhineland that ended the blockade. They were sickened every morning by the sight of skeletal German children swarming over the British Army garbage dumps, looking for food.
“No, the Brits had starved them into submission and forced them to sign the Armistice.”
That’s what’s obvious. But a hidden factor weighing on the scales may have been a realization at the time, or later on, that another million American troops would be arriving, so resistance was futile.
There was enough food in Germany, but its distribution was horribly bungled by Ludendorff’s maladministration.
His plans for Europe after a German victory were hardly distinguishable from Hitler’s, except for expelling Jews rather than mass-murdering them. He planned to colonize Eastern Europe, and drive out its indigenous Slavic populations.
OTOH, Germany left over a million troops in the Baltics, Belarus and Ukraine after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, who could have been used to maintain the offensive in the West.
And the food and coal expected from the East failed to materialize in the hoped for quantities.
The British food blockade was in violaton of international law and at least one other treaty. About 750,000 German civilians, men, women, and children, starved to death as a result. The situation was so bad that William Jennings Bryan, US Secretary of State, resigned in protest. Here are just two of Britain’s victims:
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/image_files/1920s-german-starvation_488.jpg
Multiply that times several hundred thousand, and you needn’t wonder why Hitler was able to rise to power.
So the Kaiser shouldn’t have gone to war against Russia, France and Britain, should he?
The German invasion of Belgium and slaughter of innocent men, women and children was also in violation of international law.
Bryan resigned in 1915, two years before the US entered the war, and before mass starvation in Germany.
Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare was also against international law.
The Kaiser’s regime was willing to let its people starve rather than make peace. Only the US Army and Marines forced Germany to agree to an armistice.
“That’s not a bug, that’s a feature”?
….” its going to be tough to beat that one.?
I don’t know some green nitwit will likely write how freedom itself is overrated because the masses cannot be sufficiently forced into doing what is right and necessary for preservation and survival.
Ignorant free people don’t know what is good for them.
Progressive tyranny is needed.
We must fight for our right to be wrong.
The writer would have gone hysterical when Mrs. Thatcher had a majority and reformed a corrupt system whereby the coal union guy was running the country. Scargill (?)
Reagan was given the mandate to reform the US but was stifled by Democrats with majorities.
Bob Hoye
Just saw this article. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-global-climate.amp
From a Canadian perspective, the article is nonsense. Canada has a broken political system because our Senate is worse than useless. It was intended to provide checks and balances to the House of Commons.
However in reality the Senate is a toothless old dog that can’t even remember how to bark. It is filled with political appointees as a lifetime pension for a “job well done”.
The checks and balances in the US system do not lead to tyranny. The are designed to prevent the sort of tyranny we have in Canada where the Prime Minister is President, House and Senate all rolled into one.
Add in an egotistical grand standing Numbskull like TrueDope and the only hope is that through sheer incompetence the damage will be limited. Who in their right mind would get into a trade war having an economy a small fraction of the size of your opponent. Economic suicide.
As we say in Canada our PM got his mothers brains and his fathers looks. While we are pretty sure who his mother was there is plenty of debate on the other question.
“…to save the planet.” Oops, just remembered I have to take out the trash.
And other fairy tales can be found at your local leftist library. Other selections include Communisim done right, If I was in charge the world woul be so much better, If cavemen ruled the world, If the Vikings had stayed home, If Columbus had crashed at sea are just a few.
Thought of the ultimate Fary Tail for Vox and readers. If God had Forgotten to Create Adam and Eve. 😃
This recycled (ooh look, it’s recycled, how green) Vox article highlight one particular failure of the USA, but not the one intended by its authors. The failure is the that USA’s educational institutions have produced such young people with an astonishingly poor understanding of world history and the woeful state humanity was in for so long.
The authors, clearly upset by what they perceive as the USA’s lack of greenness, also make the amateur mistake of alienating those Americans who might otherwise be inclined to agree with them on CAGW and all that. This is not smart. It is self indulgent.
But I’ll give Vox this. It’s good click bait. There’s evil capitalism behind all this after all. Hehe.
I hope Dylan gets his wish, and moves to Canada. I am certain he would appreciate Canada’s restrictions on free speech as much as their “efficient” Parlimentary system. Smh.
Yes, Free Speech is still alive and well in the United States, although it is under heavy assault from those on the Left.
Had Hillary been elected, our free speech would have been in great jeopardy. The U.S. would be headed down the same socialist road Europe is on.
Did it ever occur to these idiots that without the example of the American revolution, Britan would have had no incentive, or political support for giving Canada a ‘soft exit’ from the empire, and the subsequent formation of the Commonwealth?
Then speculate that continued British rule might have stifled American growth and inventiveness, and if you really want speculate, just assume Hitler’s rise, and the potential for Canadians to be speaking German by now.
This kind of imaginative nonsense is an embarrasment to the left, who can’t get stuff done politically, and therefore must resort to flights of fantasy to get through their day.
The article is pure clickbait and should be ignored for the deliberately outrageous garbage that it is.
Dylan Matthews — a 28-year old ass-clown man-child.
This is an idiot who gave a kidney to a complete stranger.
Hopes he can go through life with one.
OK, that Ruined it for me, but that’s okay. At least he walks the talk. I’ll grant him that.
So many Libs don’t walk the talk.
Trump walks his talk. He is doing what he said he would do.
Leave it to a leftist to just assume that the natural reaction to gridlock is for a dictator to just take over.
It’s what they have been hoping for.
As per the Brexit, even the Brits have come to realize that Unelected Bureaucrats ruling from afar is a bad form of government.
As far as Democracy goes including the American Form of it I believe Churchill quotes id best back in Nov 1947
Just imagine how green the US would be if they were a dictatorship and didn’t have to take into account what the people want. A “green dictatorship” would be utopia according to the environuts who espouse this nonsense.
And you would now have all English/French labeled products on your store shelves too.
And In London, either German or Russian would be the dominant language of government.
Facebook banned parts the American founding document, The Declaration of Independence, as so-called “hate speech”.
The heck with all of these 2 dimensional high tech derivative parasites.
MODERATOR !
I have entered a LONG COMMENT further down the list
and whilst EDITING IT……… I got BLOCKED OUT and was unable to POST IT !
.
Will YOU please EXERCISE YOUR PREROGATIVE POWER and ACCEPT IT !??
When LAST SEEN it was forlornly sitting there looking absolutely submittable !
.
Regards , Trevor.
that is the Universe trying to get you to stop using all caps
And for not removing line-breaks.
Noble cause corruption at its “best”!
They subvert the Rule of Law, nullify the (democratic) Republican form of Government, the Constitution, and the principles of the Declaration of Independence – all to worship nature and subjugate the good of “We the People.”
e.g., see: Noble Cause Corruption, by Steve Rothlein
http://www.llrmi.com/articles/legal_update/noble-cause-corruption.shtml
If Dylan Matthews wants to stop at our house, I’ll drive him to the border with Canada.
He can apply to stay there or move on to another country.
“I really don’t care. Do U?”
Given Britain’s previous unhappy experiment with republicanism, it’s unlikely that either Britain or France would have adopted democracy in the 19th century without the American example.
Nor would Canada have been permitted to form a Dominion nor Australia a Commonwealth, but would have remained disparate Crown colonies.
I should have let it pass, but curiosity got the better of me. From the article…
So another Loony Liberal (but I repeat myself) trying to retroactively apply the same loony logic they’re trying to attempt in present time to destroy our country: A minority group of non-citizens should get greater consideration than citizens do! But even worse, clearly “…vulnerable groups…” does NOT mean babies in the womb!
I may yet resurrect my “America: Love It Or Leave It!” bumper sticker!
The historical ignoramus fool apparently doesn’t know that Indians and blacks fought on both sides in the Revolutionary War.
Spoken like a Constitutional retard. I guess we’re just lucky that after 242 years we haven’t collapsed into a dictatorship. It’s nothing to do with our form of government and the Constitution’s strict enumeration of powers for the federal government, its division of powers among the branches, and its system of checks and balances.
I’m guessing that Matthews is getting a lot of attention for his infantile essay; and not the kind he wants. The only kind of government leftists like is the kind that accomplishes their goals, be it socialist, parliamentary, dictatorship, oligarchy or whatever. The ends justify the means and damn all those stupid “natural rights”.