Poll: Does the USA Overly Abuse the Power it has?

[Bulletinmybrain]

Eh, it does what any country would do if it had the power and influence America has. America seeks to protect its own interests, and often, given how far-reaching those interests are, this leads to conflict with other nations.

Yes, America oversteps its bounds at times (Iraq comes to mind), but I think it's primarily due to a zealous sense of superiority, rather than an intentionally arrogant or aggressive demeanor.

Fix't.

I quite disagree, as a matter of fact. As an American, I do not see myself as inherently superior to any other person of any other nationality, nor do I see my country as inherently superior. It simply happens to be the most powerful at the present time in history.

Exactly.

Wait, isnt that China? Arent they funding your wars? Dont you owe shit-loads of money to them?
Point being, what does POWER mean when we are trying to achieve peace?

No, China is not the most powerful nation on earth. The US is. At least at the moment.

Ah Thanatos, we meet again... Hmm, I dont know if I believe that. China has the massive population, the currency, a large military (currently not involved in 2 wars)...

China has 180 nukes. U.S has over 4,000 nukes.

No one will ever fuck with the u.s at its doorsteps.

 

[Trivun]

Yes, it does, greatly. The thing is, America is arrogant. I'm sorry, but it always has been and always will be. It is a fact that most Americans think their country is better than any other, they take patriotism to new levels. I'm not getting at them for it, I've been to America and once we got past the arrogance of the local people I found many Americans to be pleasant and very nice people. My family got talking at random to an American couple at the Kennedy Space Centre and they were much nicer than most UK people I meet. I also know an American girl here in the UK who is, again, one of the nicest people you'll meet. However, in general Americans are arrogant (as already stated), and this follows through in that a lot of Americans believe it is their God-given right to intefere in other countries. They did it with Japan to a certain extent in WW2 (although to be fair they did support Hitler and communism and so on...), they did it in Vietnam, and they did it twice in Iraq, plus Afghanistan. I saw Farenheit 9/11 and although a lot of it was pretty biased the points raised, such as using 9/11 as an excuse to invade Afghanistan almost immediatly, and Bush's links with the Afghan authorities and in fact with Bin Laden himself, can't easily be denied. This is slightly off topic, I know, but in the end America uses it's influence and arrogance to abuse it's position in world politics. They're by no means the only country to do so, but they sure as hell do it a lot more than any other, even the UK (and I'll freely admit we've done it ourselves at times, but not to the extent the Americans have).

Sorry about the Wall'O'Text, by the way.

 

[Kinguendo]

Eh, it does what any country would do if it had the power and influence America has. America seeks to protect its own interests, and often, given how far-reaching those interests are, this leads to conflict with other nations.

Yes, America oversteps its bounds at times (Iraq comes to mind), but I think it's primarily due to a zealous sense of superiority, rather than an intentionally arrogant or aggressive demeanor.

Fix't.

I quite disagree, as a matter of fact. As an American, I do not see myself as inherently superior to any other person of any other nationality, nor do I see my country as inherently superior. It simply happens to be the most powerful at the present time in history.

Exactly.

Wait, isnt that China? Arent they funding your wars? Dont you owe shit-loads of money to them?
Point being, what does POWER mean when we are trying to achieve peace?

No, China is not the most powerful nation on earth. The US is. At least at the moment.

Ah Thanatos, we meet again... Hmm, I dont know if I believe that. China has the massive population, the currency, a large military (currently not involved in 2 wars)...

China has 180 nukes. U.S has over 4,000 nukes.

No one will ever fuck with the u.s at its doorsteps.

Really? I vaguely remember that Al Qaida did not so long ago. Also, no one is ever going to launch a nuke at someone now... Unless they had the intention of ending the world, that is. If someone did wage war on America you really think the first thing you are going to resort to is "No! NOOOO! We are America and people dont invade us! SCREW YOU WORLD!"? I think you will find that nobody invades anyone anymore in the civilized world, you cant just walk in a take over anymore without global intervention.

 

[hypothetical fact]

America abuses its beliefs in democracy. The only reason they still aren't at war with communism is because it collapsed on its own. But they are more than happy to set up a dictator in a country as long as the dictator is pro-American/democracy in order to top the dominoes from falling.

 

[Compatriot Block]

A lot of threads end up devolving into bitter arguments about this

So your answer to this is to give it its own thread? Come on, man.

I figured it would be better here where that is the point, than derailing other threads.

 

[m_jim]

Ah Thanatos, we meet again... Hmm, I dont know if I believe that. China has the massive population, the currency, a large military (currently not involved in 2 wars)...

China has 180 nukes. U.S has over 4,000 nukes.

No one will ever fuck with the u.s at its doorsteps.

Really? I vaguely remember that Al Qaida did not so long ago. Also, no one is ever going to launch a nuke at someone now... Unless they had the intention of ending the world, that is. If someone did wage war on America you really think the first thing you are going to resort to is "No! NOOOO! We are America and people dont invade us! SCREW YOU WORLD!"? I think you will find that nobody invades anyone anymore in the civilized world, you cant just walk in a take over anymore without global intervention.

If China wanted to bring the US to its knees, they wouldn't use nuclear weapons. They would simply tighten the pursestrings. Like Jak said, people don't invade each other like they used to.

 

[Overlord Moo]

I quite disagree, as a matter of fact. As an American, I do not see myself as inherently superior to any other person of any other nationality, nor do I see my country as inherently superior. It simply happens to be the most powerful at the present time in history.

Same here...

...and as many other people have said, all the world powers, in their time, have "abused" their power.

 

[Khazoth]

Lol.. Is this thread for real?

Ahem, I believe the correct response to such a deep and insightful question is.. "Duh"

 

[Overlord Moo]

I'd like to note that, in a total war scenario, while the army China can field would be enormous, it would be far shy of 1 billion people. The total number suitable for military purposes is in fact less than 300 million, and while that is a terrifying figure, one has to consider that numbers alone will not win a war and even people in China would start to complain when the bodycount reaches the tens of millions. Worse still, one has to consider the logistical ramifications of deploying 300 million people. Even if poorly armed 300 million people will consume a tremendous ammount of ammunition, fuel and what have you - the entire economy of China would have to be diverted towards the war effort and while this could be done in China for a time, it certainly won't be able to last long (again, combine the tremendous body count with sudden shortages of damn near everything at home and people will tend to complain pretty quickly). As such, while china can field somewhere beween 5 and 10 men for every one that the US can field, that numerical advantage is less meaningful than it would seem.

The Chinese Government doesn't care if thier people complain. " Chairman Mao, I don't like fighting the American's. Can I sto-GakGUU *Falls on ground* uhhhhh..
MAO: (wipes sword) Next.

Besides, unless someone deals with the problem of nuclear weapons, embarking on a total war between two nuclear powers is simply going to result in a nuclear exchange, and things would need to get fairly desperate to risk that.

As seen in fallout:b

 

[jboking]

America? As in the two continents (North and South) comprising of several nations, one of which is the United States thereof?

Sorry, pet peeve of mine.

It is funny sometimes, the rest of the world thinks that the citizens of the United States have any say over the actions of the United States government. Oh, we choose who makes the "decisions", but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are the one who ultimately make the decisions.

A brief, very loose description of American "outside" history:
For about a century and one half, the United States tried to stay out of other countries' business. Sure, it would fight for more land or amongst itself, but generally it go beyond things that directly effected the nation at large. Then this great depression hit and things started to suck for the United States. Things started to suck everywhere. One European nation decided that the best way to get out of depression was to go to war with everyone else, so they grabbed some friends and started on their merry way. It worked. So much that the other nations of Europe started to realize they couldn't stop it. They pleaded with the States to help, but the States had problems of it's own. Finally, just as it was almost over for Europe, the States thought, "hey, maybe this war stuff will help fix our depression problem". It did. The United States helped the "good guys" beat the "bad guys" and everyone was happy. Except that first country who found itself in a worse state then before and eventually pretty much the same thing happened all over again. The United States realized something, this war stuff really worked for them. Other nations figured out that the United States was pretty good at this war stuff and was willing to help out. Soon a couple nations over in Asia were having troubles, then some in the middle east. Sides kept switching but the United States tended to win no matter what because war was good for their economy, even if they were perpetually losing the actual wars. Then, everyone pretty much started to get along, for the most part. The United States realized something, they were nothing without war to fuel their economy. So they started picking fights, generally fights that were "worthy", but not exactly necessary. Then others started picking fights with them and the United States was like "why not?". Now the US is just revisiting old stomping grounds that they didn't quite finish off properly the last time.

In short, the United States became the world police, mostly because the world asked for it. The problem is, the United States became dependent on it, and of late doesn't know what to do about it.

That's my biased opinion at half past midnight where most of my history classes escape me.

You missed the part during the beginning of WWI where the United States decided, "Hey, lets become industrial and sell guns to both sides of this fight!" It worked rather well.

At op, yes the USA abuses its power. Look at the UN. Great job vetoing absolutely anything China has to say USA, really nice.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

America abuses its beliefs in democracy. The only reason they still aren't at war with communism is because it collapsed on its own. But they are more than happy to set up a dictator in a country as long as the dictator is pro-American/democracy in order to top the dominoes from falling.

Also, they are just using their weapon stickpile to get what they want (such as oil from the Iraq war).

 

[Mozared]

America seems to see themselves as the "guardians of democracy" without often realizing democracy isn't as good of a system it sounds. That and the fact that they'll ram the American flag down your throath if you happen to not like it and they can lead me to say it abuses the power it has.

 

[arc101]

yup, they do.

 

[Thanatos34]

Eh, it does what any country would do if it had the power and influence America has. America seeks to protect its own interests, and often, given how far-reaching those interests are, this leads to conflict with other nations.

Yes, America oversteps its bounds at times (Iraq comes to mind), but I think it's primarily due to a zealous sense of superiority, rather than an intentionally arrogant or aggressive demeanor.

Fix't.

I quite disagree, as a matter of fact. As an American, I do not see myself as inherently superior to any other person of any other nationality, nor do I see my country as inherently superior. It simply happens to be the most powerful at the present time in history.

Exactly.

Wait, isnt that China? Arent they funding your wars? Dont you owe shit-loads of money to them?
Point being, what does POWER mean when we are trying to achieve peace?

No, China is not the most powerful nation on earth. The US is. At least at the moment.

Ah Thanatos, we meet again... Hmm, I dont know if I believe that. China has the massive population, the currency, a large military (currently not involved in 2 wars)...

I certainly wouldn't want to enter a war against them, true. Not because I think we would lose, but because it would be a War that would make WW2 look like a schoolyard brawl.

1 Chinese yuan = 0.14657 U.S. dollars

How much is 1 yuan? Is that the same as the Japanese yen? I don't think it could be, because then 1 Chinese "dollar" would be 14.657 US dollars, and the US is still pretty far up there in terms of currency, I think.

 

[Thanatos34]

America seems to see themselves as the "guardians of democracy" without often realizing democracy isn't as good of a system it sounds. That and the fact that they'll ram the American flag down your throath if you happen to not like it and they can lead me to say it abuses the power it has.

Name a better system for a large country.

 

[Kinguendo]

Eh, it does what any country would do if it had the power and influence America has. America seeks to protect its own interests, and often, given how far-reaching those interests are, this leads to conflict with other nations.

Yes, America oversteps its bounds at times (Iraq comes to mind), but I think it's primarily due to a zealous sense of superiority, rather than an intentionally arrogant or aggressive demeanor.

Fix't.

I quite disagree, as a matter of fact. As an American, I do not see myself as inherently superior to any other person of any other nationality, nor do I see my country as inherently superior. It simply happens to be the most powerful at the present time in history.

Exactly.

Wait, isnt that China? Arent they funding your wars? Dont you owe shit-loads of money to them?
Point being, what does POWER mean when we are trying to achieve peace?

No, China is not the most powerful nation on earth. The US is. At least at the moment.

Ah Thanatos, we meet again... Hmm, I dont know if I believe that. China has the massive population, the currency, a large military (currently not involved in 2 wars)...

I certainly wouldn't want to enter a war against them, true. Not because I think we would lose, but because it would be a War that would make WW2 look like a schoolyard brawl.

1 Chinese yuan = 0.14657 U.S. dollars

How much is 1 yuan? Is that the same as the Japanese yen? I don't think it could be, because then 1 Chinese "dollar" would be 14.657 US dollars, and the US is still pretty far up there in terms of currency, I think.

Sorry, I meant "their wealth"... People make mistakes and I was tired, what do you espect?

 

[clicketycrack]

Hell yeah they do, but I don't really blame them. Imagine if somebody gave you fifty billion dollars and then gave you the option of either investing wisely and then giving all the profits to charity, or investing it wisely and then spending it on a giant doom fortress on an island in the south pacific complete with private jets, a private army, and a giant lazer. But then again, my opinions are one of the many many many reasons I am not in a position of power.

 

[tehweave]

Yes.
Yes they/we do.

 

[Thanatos34]

Eh, it does what any country would do if it had the power and influence America has. America seeks to protect its own interests, and often, given how far-reaching those interests are, this leads to conflict with other nations.

Yes, America oversteps its bounds at times (Iraq comes to mind), but I think it's primarily due to a zealous sense of superiority, rather than an intentionally arrogant or aggressive demeanor.

Fix't.

I quite disagree, as a matter of fact. As an American, I do not see myself as inherently superior to any other person of any other nationality, nor do I see my country as inherently superior. It simply happens to be the most powerful at the present time in history.

Exactly.

Wait, isnt that China? Arent they funding your wars? Dont you owe shit-loads of money to them?
Point being, what does POWER mean when we are trying to achieve peace?

No, China is not the most powerful nation on earth. The US is. At least at the moment.

Ah Thanatos, we meet again... Hmm, I dont know if I believe that. China has the massive population, the currency, a large military (currently not involved in 2 wars)...

I certainly wouldn't want to enter a war against them, true. Not because I think we would lose, but because it would be a War that would make WW2 look like a schoolyard brawl.

1 Chinese yuan = 0.14657 U.S. dollars

How much is 1 yuan? Is that the same as the Japanese yen? I don't think it could be, because then 1 Chinese "dollar" would be 14.657 US dollars, and the US is still pretty far up there in terms of currency, I think.

Sorry, I meant "their wealth"... People make mistakes and I was tired, what do you espect?

I *espect* perfection! At all times!

But I'm not sure what you mean then, by saying China has the wealth.

 

[Agayek]

I *espect* perfection! At all times!

But I'm not sure what you mean then, by saying China has the wealth.

Further proof the universe runs on irony.