Why do people think nuclear war is unwinnable?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Is it because that's what communists teach children as they're growing up? America could win a nuclear war if:

1. The government poured money into research and development on global missile defense
and
2. We had a faster trigger than the enemy

So why is it that most Americans associate nuclear war with certain obliteration?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Are people on this thread really advocating for nuclear war?

I think, for them, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to them.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Most people still believe Mutually Assured Destruction is official US policy, for whatever reason.

It’s okay, if 20 cities are destroyed it’s just a flesh wound, the Libya intervention was worse! The important thing is to KILL.

I disagree with the existence of nuclear weapons, but the idea that one state using nuclear weapons in any way would automatically lead to every country jizzing their nukes all over the place is baloney.

No one knows what would happen. Anyone who claims they know with complete certainty what would happen is certainly a liar. The point is that any such scenario would be catastrophic beyond any any foreign policy action in recent memory.

The notion that "yuk yuk, well life on earth wouldn't be eliminated, ya yokels, so calm down" doesn't work.

Oh, come on Beet.  They're not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But probably no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. You know, depending on the breaks.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Far smaller wars fought with far less destructive wars proved unwinnable. If one nuke goes off in the middle of a Chicago killing 1 million people it would be the worst event in U.S. history. The real question is, why are people suddenly so bloodthirsty?

Funny you mentioned this, Beet.

I was having a conversation the other day and I mentioned how cold and uncaring we used to be, compared to today.

I mean, consider during my Grandparents teen years, just two generations removed from me, the world situation of WW2. We dropped bombs over Tokyo at 7,000 feet. Tokyo was boiling. Literally. Dresden bombing. The Brits bombed by night, but America, hell, we did it in broad daylight. We just didn't give a crap.

Japanese Americans? Lock them up. Can't take the risk. That was the reality of the 1940s. We got a nuke? Drop it on Japan. No holds barred.

We considered not even allowing Germany to be a nation after the war. There were very frank and honest discussions in the White House as to whether or not Germany should even be allowed to be anything more than just an agricultural state. (Morgenthau Plan)

Roosevelt said, A better policy would have the Germans "fed three times a day with soup from Army soup kitchens" so "they will remember that experience the rest of their lives."

People on this message board from Germany should feel thankful that Truman even allowed Germany to be a country after the war.

You think we are bloodthirsty today? No way.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Being completely honest, I just think of all these conflicts and crisis' as continually kicking the can down the road. We used to kick a** and not care about the world reaction. Think about it. For 20+ years we can't even secure the southern border of our country. We can't figure out health care.

In just five years we went from depression and having the 19th ranked Army in the world to defacto global superpower.

We used to kick butt. What happened? Seriously? Regulations? Rules? Political correctness? Globalization?

Health care and the southern border have failed because of internal conflicts. We're designed to be a democracy that exists for the benefit of the public. But we're actually an oligarchy run for the benefit of the wealthy. (And from the perspective of the 1%, everything in America is going very, very right. Espeically for the sociopaths.)

We were supreme after WWII because every other advanced nation on earth had been wrecked.

When do you think was this time we used to kick ass and not care what the world thought? Because the idea that we did so anytime after WWII is a product of jingoistic propaganda.

Korea? Vietnam? Somalia? Putting together giant coalitions against third tier nations like Iraq and Yugoslavia, and still not accomplishing all that much? Trouncing Panama and Grenada?
 
What I think it really happening with 'kicking the can down the road' is that our own propaganda about how awesome we are is starting to have it's wheels come off when faced with the consequences of unfettered greed by the 1%. (Once the Cold War was over, there was no more incentive to make things better here than over there. They've descended to trying to frighten us with scary brown people who don't speak English instead, and it's still not quite working right.)