re: Biggest political mistake in history, in your opinion

Cyrus trying to continually invade Western Greece.

Withholding Taxes from paychecks.

If the people had to cut a check every quarter, they would expect more restraint and fiscal responsibility out of their government.

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Having the people elect senators seems a natural progression.

It does to those uneducated on our nation's founding.

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I know a little bit about that; The Framers didn't trust the common people with power, hence the Electoral College. Having the state legislatures pick the senators was just a way for the fat cats in a state to keep power that rightly should belong to the people.

1858:

"On election day, the voters of Illinois chose members of the state legislature who in turn reelected Douglas to the Senate in January 1859. Although Lincoln lost, the Republicans received more popular votes than the Democrats, signaling an important shift in the political character of the state. Moreover, Lincoln had gained a reputation throughout the North. He was invited to campaign for Republican candidates in other states and was now mentioned as a candidate for the presidency. In winning, Douglas further alienated the Buchanan administration and the South, was soon to be stripped of his power in the Senate, and contributed to the division of the Democratic party."

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Jefferson Davis and R Lee choosing to march on the Union instead of solidifying defensive positions around Vicksburg and Richmond.

Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus. Whether you believe it happened or not, that guy made a shite mistake. His name has forever been associated with betrayer and backstabber. Also, it was a political move. Judas was most likely a Zealot, who wanted to overthrow Roman rule. When it became apparent Jesus was not going to do that, he was ready to take his money and run.

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Having the state legislatures pick the senators was just a way for the fat cats in a state to keep power that rightly should belong to the people.

The people already have representatives in Congress. Senators were intended to represent the interests of the several states, not the people.

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Looks like you are right.

"In this spirit it may be remarked, that the equal vote allowed to each state, is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual states, and an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty. . . ."

James Madison, Federalist 62, 1787

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America's Greatest President, Calvin Coolidge, made a grave mistake by not running for re-election in 1928. He wins in a landslide if he does and The Great Depression is not as great, and we never get FDR and his socialist policies and 24 straight years of Democratic rule that ruined this country's future.

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FDR, Lincoln and Washington are the three greatest Americans. Whoever is fourth - I say John Adams, is well below these three.

THE AIRCRAFT MEETING

On Monday, November 14, 1938 President Roosevelt summoned a number of key military advisers to what Eric Hammel has called possibly the most important single meeting in modern world history. The president wanted a large force of -offensive- airplanes. The Air Corps had 12 working strategic bombers and several hundred tactical bombers of dubious utility. FDR told his advisers he wanted 20,000 Army Air Corps aircraft in service and a capacity to build 24,000 a year. For the day these numbers were simply fantastic."



This was just a few weeks after The Brits and French sold out the Czechs and all of Europe. It was remarkably foresighted and prescient of FDR.



By 1945 there were over 500,000 men and 40 heavy bombardment groups in Europe totaling over 2,000 B-17s and B-24s. That was just in the 8th Air Force. There was a total of 20 numbered air forces.




It is really amazing. Our war planners targeted island for invasion, by troops not yet enlisted to be seized from ships not built supported by aircraft still on the drawing board. FDR made all that go.

FDR was a giant.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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By 1945 the Red Army was a very efficient fighting force not to be trifled with.

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A very efficient fighting force rolling on American trucks, built with American steel, fueled by American diesel, clothed with American textiles, and fed with American canned goods. If we had cut them off from our supplies, surprise attacked their army in Berlin, and took immediate air superiority over the skies, how long would that "efficient fighting force" hold up against the combined industrial, logistical, and military might of the allies?

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Plus - how could that be the biggest political mistake in history since we backed the Soviets down with a basically bloodless victory for us?

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Nearly 50 years of bloodshed and economic destruction in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and in USSR-backed allied nations all around the world is hardly "bloodless". Just look at all of the American casualties in Vietnam and Korea. Look at the famines caused by communist regimes in China, Ethiopia, and Cambodia. So many countless millions killed all "for the greater good" of Communism. I do not question whether or not a defeat of the Soviet Union by allied forces at the end of WWII would have been beneficial for the world. It no doubt would have been. I only question the capability and will power in the allies to physically accomplish such a feat.