Regarding America's past

Khayembii Communique said:

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree, then; I don't really think it's possible to compare historical events in such a way, and also don't think it's productive or healthy to promote the post-judgment of historical events, either.

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Fair enough.

And thinking about it, I see your point about post-judgment. Viewing history from today's perspective and passing judgment doesn't take into account the historical context of the events in question which are vastly different than today's context so that such judgment is basically rendered useless.

Context is everything when looking at history. Slavery and genocide are horrible things, but they weren't radically out of step with the values of the time. You can't judge the actions of the past by a moral standard that didn't exist at the time they occurred.

America pioneered modern democracy. At the time, democracy was thought to be unstable, unstainable, and dangerous. America's founding fathers put together a system that not only lasted, but prospered and proved the naysayers wrong. I believe the success of democracy in America accelerated the move towards democracy in western Europe.

America was a bit behind the curve on slavery. We were one of the last western nations to abolish it. However for much of our history (especially if you include the colonial period) slavery was a western norm, where we were no better or worse than the rest of the world. And while we were behind the curve, we weren't horribly behind the curve. Its not like we clung to slavery centuries after it was abolished throughout much of the world.

The genocide of the Indians wasn't terribly outside the norm. It was standard imperialist behavior. We were no better or worse than any other colonial power in the 19th century.

America was an important player in defeating perhaps the most vile regime to ever come to power, the Nazis. And we stood firm in opposing another vile regime in the Soviet Union. We did some questionable and immoral things in our opposition to the Soviets, but in the Cold War, the U.S. pretty clearly the "good guys".

If you compare America with the actions and policies of other historical great powers, we come out looking pretty restrained and benevolent. Not perfect, not by any means. But enough that I can say that overall America has had a positive influence on the world throughout its existance. And despite our flaws, there is no country I would rather live in.