Fine.
But at the beginning, with the exception of some courageous individuals *, they didn't do much.
WRONG. Our entire economy had kicked up by the beginning of WW2 in europe. We were making parts, weapons and anything that could possibly be conceived to send (/sell) to europe.
Like you said, it was Europe's mess and the US were nowhere morally obliged to intervene.
WRONG. It's always everybody's responsibility to get rid of those who are corrupt.
In the beginning we didnt do much because even if the public would have supported it we quite simple were nowhere near ready or able to do much other then what we did.
WRONG. Not only did the Public SUPPORT it, but we did actually begin to do things in our industry and military training.
Our Armed forces were at a pitiful level.
WRONG. Government Officials and other people in the US recognized the impending war before the start in europe. Our forces started to recruit and build up. While it was nothing near our 1942 level, it was no where near pitiful level.
How can we blame the generation who fought in the trenches during WWI for the bad preparation of the french, brit and, as you point out, US armies. There was a widespread feeling that WWI was a terrible mistake and that it could never happen again...
WRONG. WW1 sucked, and many people died. But in no way did people just think that it was a terrible mistake. Everything in European history lead up to WW1 in a big bang. Europe was due for it and no one was sorry about it.
However the next disaster to come was already written in the Versailles Treaty: once defeated, the enemy shouldn't be humiliated. IMO the Nazi party wouldn't have had so much followers if Germany had been able to gain back its 'respectable nation' status after a few years.
WRONG. It wasn't involvement that lead to the Nazi party, but uninvolvement.
I actually was wrong too. I overlooked the canadian stuff. While I didn't see the other post, I didn't see how this bridged into what the topic was.
BTW, I encourage everyone involved to pick up a history book and learn this stuff for yourself. If you go out on your own free will to learn something, it'll have so much more power and influence.