Comments on Profile Post by zerodeefex

amazing that this is even a thing, the union should have occupied the south post-war.

@caute, they did, at least to a ltd extent. This is a cool resource: https://www.mappingoccupation.org/index.html.

Greg Downs has also written a good book on the subject, "After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War"

@Tchoupitoulas wow, i didn't know they were stationed until 1871, but that still obv wasn't enough time, w the rise of the KKK, violent racism and the former Confederate Democrat demagogues, all of which stymied Reconstruction, which, had it been fully carried out, our country would look radically different today. And all for the better.

The Union should have had a Marshall Plan for the former Confederate States of America.

@caute "Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable—the art of the next best"—Bismarck. That's as true today as ever. And no one can solve others' problems for them.

Bismarck? Why not just skip to Kissinger?

@Wilson Dr Kissinger was a great diplomatist, but he's never had an interest in domestic policy. And the statesman he researched and identified with most was Metternich. It's instructive, because Metternich was forced to conduct Austrian foreign policy from a position of weakness; whereas the Nixon administration *erroneously* believed that it was negotiating with the Russians from a position of weakness.

@Claritas, I have nothing but horror for the inhumanity of Realpolitik. That should give you an idea what my values are.

Realpolitik lacks imagination.

If statesmen had made use of realpolitik, neither World War would've happened. Nor the Iraq War, the Libya misadventure, the mission creep in Ukraine. The current cost of post-war reconstruction is $750 billion. It will be trillions of dollars which we can't afford, which could help our fellow Americans. Always remember: Whenever everyone is Washington is for something, it's probably a very bad idea.

You are making sweeping assertions there. I honestly don't know where to start. Except perhaps to observe that Realpolitik is responsible for plenty of spilled blood. And I'm still wondering about "And no one can solve others' problems for them."

And I guess the most important question is "Can this dialogue be productive?"

@Wilson I can't be more specific on our site, because we have a rule against discussing current or recent political issues. Till now, we've been discussing American history and approaches to foreign policy. But the discussion is turning toward the present day. So, you have my phone number, and I'm happy to talk things over.

@Claritas, so you post some vague self-reliance thing on a profile post wishing a Happy Juneteenth and won't clarify? Why'd you post to begin with? Never mind.

@Wilson Either I wasn't clear, or you're accidentally reading me out of context. The context was the political and social limitations of Reconstruction. I specifically said that I'd happily clarify anything to you personally. But none of that was good enough for you. There is no justification whatsoever for your mendacity and rudeness. Please feel free to have the last word, as you so evidently need it.

Ok

what "limitations"?

@caute, when I joined SBAF in 2016, I was rightfully banned for crapping mindless political pronouncements on various threads, so been there done that. This is just performative anti-wokeness, not serious discussion.