LH. You have a bit of a loop problem yerself re Vietnam, to mention just one. For no good reason? There were plenty of reasons and some were actually good. They made sense at the time. You have to look at the "stiz em lieben". The French involvement, the decidely different and virulent form of Communism in the USSR, the, post WWII American mindset, dissemination of US atomic secrets, the Kennedy adminstration and then assination, etc. It all went into the shaping of the American mind, that and much more. Because something doesn't look "right" today doesn't mean it wasn't right for its time.

This country and, I imagine, all countries are always screwing the little guy in some way. It's a global pecking order. Remember my post on "When Big Things Move"? It can't be helped. That's the nature of the beast. When "Big" ceases to be advantageous, as in the case of the dinosaurs, it will go away, one way or the other. In the meantime I choose to support my local superpower and encourage it to do what I believe to be doing right things such as promoting individual freedoms, free and open education, access for all, etc., i.e., things I consider to be core values of the US. It makes more sense than setting your jaw and being a contrarian, unless of course, you are trying to make a point.

We don't always get it right and not everyone's motives are righteous or noble but the US does afford a high degree of freedom and personal liberty and many smaller countries which enjoy the same owe the same to the protective strength of this superpower. It's not time to man the lifeboats just yet LH.