Maybe we would be better off if the Confederacy had won the war... I mean, assuming that the end result was two countries, not one that was controlled by the Confederate constitution. Think about it, all the industry and science was concentrated in the north, all the international influence, and most of the infrastructure, food, and water. I have no doubt that the international community would have shunned the CSA for its continued practice of slavery, and it would have been far poorer than it was.
The USA would have continued on its path, becoming a world power, and would likely have outsourced a lot of labor to its poor cousin to the south, much as we presently do with Mexico. And we would have a USA untarnished by the modern republican party, meaning no Reagan corporatism, no religious right, and no Bush wars...
Who knows, maybe we'd have managed a better relationship with the Soviets and wouldn't have screwed up the Middle East. Modern terrorism might never have existed.
Damn, now I wish we'd just let the south go, and saved ourselves all this trouble...