jayjay: You seem to have a slightly libertarian bent to you. A democratic government forces its citizens to do things they don’t volunteer for all the time. Pay taxes, for example.
Sorry… could you explain that assertion?
Why should we have not been helping our major European trading partners fight Germany? Especially since Germany’s war tactics were producing economic harm to our country, they were sinking unarmed US merchant ships (SS Algonquin, SS City of Memphis, SS Heraldton, SS Illinois, SS Vigilancia) and German diplomats were instigating our southern neighbor to start a war with us? (Zimmerman telegram)
Germany again attacked our major European trade partners, siezed American merchant vessels (SS City of Flint, 1939), mined international trade routes (Nov 1940, USS City of Rayvilles hits a German mine off Cape Otway) and again instituted submarine warfare, killing American sailors and sinking or damaging American ships (SS Robin Moor, May '41; SS Steel Seafarer, Sep '41; USS Kearny (DD-432), SS Lehigh, USS Salinas (AO-19), USS Ruben James (DD-245) {all Oct, '41}; SS Sagadahoc, Dec '41), and then decared war on us. Why should we have not fought them in WWII?
And why should we have allowed the legally constituted government of a friendly nation be overwhelmed by totalarian aggression? Especially when the rest of the UN (save the Soviets) agreed? Even the Soviets walked out rather than hang around to argue the point.
Now then: Please tell me how we should not have fought in those wars…?