Hazed,
You continually state that you understand why the United States had an isolationist viewpoint during the 30s-early 40s. Good, then understand it is pointless and futile to look back and say "Gee, you guys are acting like self-interested fools who don't care that many innocents were dying at the hands of an evil empire." Should we have become embroiled in a foreign war, one that was similar to one that cost many Americans their lives for what what reason nobody at the time could really understand? Maybe, hell even probably, on purely moralistic grounds. The thing is, wars are fought because of national interests by every country taking part in the fighting. Yes, the US had economic interests in Europe. The issue is did those interests outweigh those that were taking place at home? No, they did not. Whether you, with your 20/20 hindight and superior moral views, can understand that, is what the problem is. Yes, many innocents were dying. Would more have survived if the US had become involved earlier than 1941-42? There is absolutely nobody in the world, alive or dead, that can give an answer to that. Who knows what cities would have been bombed, how many more or less civilians would have died, or how many more or less soldiers, from both sides, would not have lost their lives? You can't say, and neither can I.
The only thing that you can possibly say is that if the US had vowed to enter the war if Poland was invaded, maybe Hitler would have not started the war in 39. Maybe he would have waited until 45, when they had a working A-Bomb and a long range bomber to deliver it, to start the shooting. Maybe he would have just given up his quest for a Nazi controlled Europe. You seem to be bright enough to understand that a megalomaniac like Hitler would NOT have done that.
How about I pose a question or two to you concerning the UK and their action, or lack thereof, with respect to Hitler and Germany. I may be mistaken, but didn't England have a similar pact with Czechoslovakia that it had with Poland? Why didn't they help out the Czechs when Hitler took their country? Also, I seem to recall that there was some agreement with Hitler that some PM from England made in Munich? Chamberlin or something like that? Hmmm, seems to me that England made some bad choices, immoral ones even, just like the US did.
Oh well, no matter what I, or anyone else says, your moral high ground can't be budged. Good for you, hope your glass house doesn't have to last through a big hail storm. I would hate to see it come crashing down around you.
