Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1617759-vote-against-war-between-america-and-germany
https://studentshare.org/history/1617759-vote-against-war-between-america-and-germany.
Vote against war between America and Germany When a war starts, it is nothing less than a war, and cannot ever be. There is not a hard war and a soft kind of it. Reinforcing the men fighting at the front spreads illiberalism at the home. It is, indeed, impossible for us to go into war with Germany and yet establish those ideals of government that are shared by all thinking men. Although we can try to achieve that, yet it is as difficult as impossible. Once the people have been led into war, there would not be anything as tolerance.
Fighting requires ruthlessness and brutality. The very attitude penetrates into the fiber of national life. If this happens, everything ranging from the courts to the Congress, the common people, and the police would be infected. The only virtue would be conformity and those refusing to conform would be required to face penalties. If America enters into war with Germany, it would make the circumstances very unfavorable for the Constitution to survive in. The free speech would be gone and so would the right of assembly.
It is, indeed, impossible for a nation to invest all its strength into war and yet keep its head high; there is hardly any example of the same in the history. We must go for any alternative that can be realized. So far, America has maintained a neutral attitude since the eruption of the war in 1914. America has been a proponent of the neutral states’ rights. The apprehensions of the Congress encourage the isolationist foreign policy about providing other countries across the globe with a political door into the policies of the US as well as the American population’s cultural melting pot.
Keeping these facts into consideration, going into war with Germany would not be an informed decision. To a large extent, the fundamental driver of motivation behind America’s entrance into war with Germany is her partiality with the Britain in comparison to Germany. The same happens to be the driver of Germany’s motivation. While America projects this image that it has been neutral, she has supported Britain. Realizing that America cannot be considered as a neutral party since she has been supplying Germany’s Allies with financial assistance and munitions, German policymakers have violated the Sussex pledge.
Rather than entering into war, it would be more fruitful for America in the long run if she develops neutral relations with all countries. Concluding, entering into war with Germany is harmful for the image of America as well as her economy. The problems are arising because of America’s hypocritical attitude of apparently being neutral while assisting Britain under the table and making it stronger as an enemy for Germany. Germany has shown good response in the past by making the Sussex pledge and is only violating it because of the observed bias of America for Britain.
To much extent, the American administration is itself responsible for this breakage of Germany’s confidence in America as a neutral country.
Read More