If you could reverse or prevent one event in all of American history ...

[ColbertWatcher]

... what would it be?

[RC]

1. bu$h Presidency.

[ddeclue]

136. ++

[Bluebear]

2. Sandra Day O'Connor becoming the swing "aye" vote crowning Bush.

I believe that would have reversed and prevented much to come.

[kickysnana]

20. I concur. n/t

[HughBeaumont]

155. Mrs. "5 to 4". Thanks, Sandy.

She should be called on this and made to feel guilty and sorry for this selfish and vastly damaging decision for the remainder of her days.

[waiting for hope]

3. Preventing George H. W. and Babs Bush

from ever reproducing.

[spag68]

37. HW and Babs

Not good enough, it would be better if the german war machine of the thirties had no bush forefathers to support it, we would be in a much better world.

[Donnachaidh]

133. charging Prescott Bush with Treason and finding him guilty

Hanging would have solved a lot of our problems today.

[stillcool]

4. Federal Reserve

[NYC_SKP]

8. That's on my list.

...so many steps in the wrong direction, that was one.

[roamer65]

17. Sadly, that was Woodrow Wilson's mistake.

I have read that he later said it was one of his biggest mistakes.

I have a Series 1914 Federal Reserve Note. It says on it "Authorized by Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913". Definitely under Wilson's term of office.

[JackRiddler]

53. Actually, this merely provided a bit of stability to an already predatory banking system...

The bankers were just as powerful and predatory before 1913. The Federal Reserve was their idea of a reform that would provide greater stability and help avoid the kind of financial crashes that had become very frequent (before 1907 there had been about two a decade from the 1870s to the 1890s).

I think one has to go further back, and question institutions like:
- private banking, period
- compound interest
- uncapped interest
- lending with an aim ultimately to foreclose
- permanent-growth capitalism with a profit-or-die imperative
- private ownership of natural resources and the means of production
- credit in place of salary

etc.

[DURHAM D]

5. Prohibit slavery from day one. n/t

[rwenos]

12. A Follow-Up: Firing on Fort Sumpter

It's easy to forget, in our modern comfort, the utter cataclysm that was the Civil War. I remember Shelby Foote saying in Ken Burns' piece: "About two percent of the population of the country died in that war, of combat or disease."

All the other tragedies -- 9-11, Pearl Harbor, the Great Depression, Kennedy's assassination, pale in comparison.

And yet 150 years later, have we really learned anything?

[rhett o rick]

104. The numbers of American deaths from the Civil War pales in comparison

to the number of American natives eradicated. The number of American native deaths is estimated to be around 10 million. The estimates vary significantly depending on who is making the estimate, but in any case it is significant.

[anonymous171]

14. Why? Wouldn't that basically have split the union apart before Lincoln was even born?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

15. You assume that is a bad thing?

had it been done peacefully... might have been fine

[rwenos]

21. Confused: Violent or Non-Violent Schism?

Are you saying that if the Constitutional Convention had allowed the South to secede then, over the issue of slavery, that it would have been BETTER or WORSE than the Civil War?

A provocative idea. I'd like to know more.

[anonymous171]

27. If the South seceded, they would have still kept slaves.

Which would have been very bad.

[Gabi Hayes]

24. let the fricking south secede.

after slavery failed, they'd come crawling back, and, perhaps would have accepted race reality better than they have, not that things are so swell up north

the only thing that may save us is miscegenation, for lack of a better word. as soon as we're all a mix of yellow, brown, red, white, and whatever colors you choose, the better off we'll be

dunno if we'll be around long enough, at the rate we're fouling our nest, but it's time to start ignoring the unimportant things, and TCB before it's too late

thank you, thank you very much

[rwenos]

28. Shall We All Send $50 to texasrepublic.com?

It's pretty hard to deny that the integration of Texas into the Union -- instead of leaving it as a buffer state between the United States and Mexico (or at least the Mexico left after 1848), would be any worse off that we've been since Texas was admitted.

On this issue, Lincoln seems clearly to have been WRONG. I'm with you -- let the South secede. It would be a better country without them, for sure.

I'm just being honest. :-)

[Gabi Hayes]

34. everybody I talk to about it thinks this was as bad a mistake (aside from slavery, various genocide)

that our country ever made, specially my comsymp pals

hindsight, though, as we all know, is much more easily acquired than wisdom

[quickesst]

80. "I'm just being honest. "

"let the South secede. It would be a better country without them, for sure."

Not secession, but I'm sure the death toll of the storms and tornadoes we suffered a few days ago was disappointing for you. It's a myth that our redneck "good ole boys" are the only ones trying to preserve the divide between the north and the south. The only difference is the method, and rhetoric. Meanwhile, democrats/liberals in our neck of the woods continue to fight the hatred on both fronts. I'm amazed at how easy it is to expose the "killem' all, let god sort them out" face of liberalism in so many "good" democrats. Thanks.
quickesst

[hendo]

30. the question is something in American history

slavery was global. Although it did take the Americans to make it really nasty.

[anonymous171]

35. I don't know about that. Spanish Slavery was pretty bad. nt

[keep_it_real]

92. Slavery, the massacre of native Americans, the fed, the

assassination of Kennedy and Lincon and RFK and Martin and Malcolm the bombing of Pear Harbor.

[Carni]

107. Good point

But I think Bush made 75% of us into slaves so I feel like we went backwards!

[NYC_SKP]

6. Tough, but provocative question....

so many come to mind, the discovery and initial colonization of the continent, the 2004 election, etc.

I look forward to reading others' answers.

[roamer65]

7. Election night, November 2000.

Al Gore wins FL...becoming the 43rd President of the United States.

[Mari333]

9. the day the europeans landed on whats now called the united states. nt

[rwenos]

16. Are you of European or Asian Extraction?

If so, why so glum on the discovery of this glorious continent?

Is there an idealistic bit of Rousseau's Noble Savage behind your choice?

[baldguy]

56. Can't say the Europeons "discovered" it if there where already people here, can we?

Maybe just give the indigenous population equal firepower. Make Caboto & Cortez work for it.

[Mari333]

86. well according to dna i am ashkenazi

i was being a brat.

[noamnety]

113. Mari's referring to an invasion of a continent, not a "discovery" of it. (nt)

[Tom Kitten]

10. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

If you judge snap of the finger type historical events. Other than that the war against Native Americans and slavery, but both were in place before America became a nation, we just amped it up a lot.

[Ex Lurker]

151. Good answer n/t

[Squatch]

11. 9/11

[HopeFor2006]

55. Agree

Without 9/11 and the fear mongering to follow, bush and his cronies would never have succeeded in destroying this country.

[Squatch]

70. Exactly...

No Patriot Act, no OIF, and I wouldn't be posting this reply from Afghanistan.

[jimlup]

118. Preventing the Bush presidency would have prevented 9/11

In my view.

We are now seeing how totally incompetent the Bush administration really was. I believe that Gore would have prevented the attacks. Bush's guys were asleep at the wheel and distracted with ridiculous pie in the sky ideas about missile defense.

The Bush presidency was a ship of fools.

[Beam Me Up]

120. I wish we had a way of speaking about policies that "fail" at their stated intentions

while rewarding intentions not publicly admitted.

The NECONS got everything they wanted in their white paper "Rebuilding America's Defenses," which were predicated on the need for "a catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."

[jimlup]

145. I'd love to see some of those deleted emails and other records they've been hiding

I believe that some of the truly insane neocons (like Cheney) had a "hands off - let the terrorist attack happen" policy and may have accidentally stated it in the record in a few too many places. Since 9/11 they've been working frantically to cover their asses and nobody seems to notice. This is why I believe the 9/11 truth movement has done the honest inquiry a great disservice. Now if you ask for an investigation into the Bush administration 9/11 stuff you sound like a truth movement lunatic.

[indepat]

122. And perhaps the only greater fools were those who supported, enabled, abetted, and shilled

For? :P

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

13. Lincoln's assassination

I wonder what he would have made of his second term?

[anonymous171]

18. Trail of Tears. No point to it, just a cruel, immoral, and unjust act by Jackson.

[DURHAM D]

33. Starting with George Washington the federal government had a "removal plan".

I wouldn't focus on Jackson era alone.

[anonymous171]

39. Well, I would get rid of the notion that we could not co-exist with our native neighbors

Seriously, why couldn't we just leave them alone? They weren't messing with us for the most part.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

131. "We' had a small problem with in that "they" were squatting on "our" land!

The savages had no concept of land ownership, "we" had a God given right to teach them.
---------------------------------------------

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.
When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

[xxqqqzme]

110. I would! Jackson defied

the Supreme Court ruling in ordering the removal/relocation of the native peoples. He dared them to stop him.

[EFerrari]

114. Really different from the French who had an "intermarry and get along plan" early on. n/t

[Alexander]

115. Yet John Quincy Adams gave relatively favorable treatment to Native Americans.

Obviously not every president back then agreed with Jackson.

[LooseWilly]

75. I agree... Trail of Tears... but

I think that rather than not allowing Jackson to do it, the Supreme Court Decision granting statehood to the Cherokee, which Jackson ignored and sent in the army to make sure was ignored, should've been not only justification for a general to rebel, and put Jackson under arrest for violation of the dictates of the constitution... but I think that Jackson should've then been put to death for treason... to set the precedent for those executives that might later attempt to stamp on and piss on the Constitution.
In one disorderly stroke, a limitation on executive power would've been established, as well as a precedent for the recognition of Native Americans as human beings... not to mention a re-enforcement of the notions of co-equal branches of government and rule of law.

And then we could've put someone on the $20 who wasn't a racist piece of shit...

[anonymous171]

132. Agreed. nt

[mix]

99. my first choice n/t

[mix]

100. delete n/t

[bbgrunt]

19. too many to choose. I concur with Fed Res but

also think the formation of the CIA in the 40's was a grave mistake. Without the secret black ops budget I think we and other people around the world might have been spared some very bloody and nefarious actions.......

[snot]

22. right now, I'd say the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

otherwise, all rollbacks of restrictions on consolidation of media ownership.

[truebrit71]

23. Hmmm November 22nd 1963....methinks an awful lot of stuff that happened after that...

...would NOT have unfolded the way it did if Kennedy had made it out of Dallas alive...

[lpbk2713]

25. The Y2K Florida faux vote recount.

And to this day I'd still like to see Katherine Harris
prosecuted for her role in this scam of immense proportions.

[tomreedtoon]

26. America not ratifying the League of Nations.

If America had not gone into an isolationist stand after World War I, saying "to Hell with Europe, let's ban alcohol and make America pure and Christian again" we might have had an international community that could have pacified Hitler, or that could have quickly united against the expansion of the Third Reich.

[napoleon_in_rags]

29. IS there one event that could have prevented institutionalized slavery?

If so, that would surely be it.

[Howzit]

58. Yes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5432724&mesg_id=5433056

[napoleon_in_rags]

68. I don't think white people coming to North America is the problem.

Anymore than Black folks coming here, or Arab folks living in Europe. I say the more in the mix the merrier, so long as the relations between people are based on equality.

[Howzit]

73. There is little equality in in one people taking the land of another and wiping out

the original inhabitants.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

87. Not all Euro-American settlers took part in "wiping out" Native Americans

and people of all races and continents have been "taking land' from each other since the beginning of human history.

[Howzit]

123. We have all benefited from past atrocities even though we did not participate in them

My point is not that I want to undo history, but that the whole question of undoing history is pretty meaningless, except to make some people feel more superior than they do already.

Do-gooders who wish to influence local or international policy need to consider unintended consequences. Good intentions don't always produce purely good outcomes just like bad intentions don't produce only bad outcomes: Hitler was a dangerous madman, yet the Germans would probably not be driving their Volkswagens on the autobahn today if you managed to undo Hitler.

[paulsby]

129. and plenty of native americans

took land (and the lives) of other native americans.

it wasn't the land of milk and honey where all these different tribes lived in peace.

the main difference between us and them was we had more of us and better weapons.

[Canuckistanian]

31. JFK's assassination

JFK was about to shut down the warmongers. He didn't approve of an escalation in Vietnam and CERTAINLY didn't want a full blown war. LBJ allowed himself to fall into the thrall of the red-baiting militarists and he never recovered.

JFK was pro-worker, pro-social justice and pro-education. He was with us a brief time, but was inspirational to all around the world.

[peace frog]

62. +1

That single act sent a chilling message to any would-be leader who followed: FALL IN LINE OR MEET A SIMILAR FATE

[JDPriestly]

72. I'm with you. The assassination of Kennedy which really put Halliburton

(Brown & Root) in the driver's seat thanks to the fact that they had sponsored Johnson from early on. Since then, it has been war, war, war and more war, to the profit of Halliburton (Brown & Root) and other such private war contractors.

[SmileyRose]

32. i would have kept the English in England.

And every other european in their own countries. "America" would have been better off with "native Americans" me thinks.

[smalll]

63. How about leaving the pseudo-Shakespearean English there too?

"Me thinks." :eyes:

[rhett o rick]

103. See post 101. nm

[krispos42]

36. The pardoning of Nixon et. al. by Gerald Ford.

Reagan's abuses, GHWB's abuses, and GWB's abuses all stem from that "oh, let's look FORWARD now" mentality.

Dubya came uncomfortably close to dropping nukes. The next authoritarian Bush-wannabe might actually do the damn thing!





Alternative answer: Operation Ajax, the overthrow of the Iranian government back in the '50s. With no hostage crisis, Carter wins a 2nd term in 1980, we're leader in clean energy, and corporatism and free-trade have a major setback. We're still a unionized manufacturing country with the wealthy elite of this country under control, not out of control.

[unblock]

127. i'll second that one!

some other good ones have already been "taken", but the effect of the nixon pardon cannot be underestimated. it most certainly cemented an unholy "above the law" attitude toward the white house, a key element toward corruption and dictatorship, cornerstones of the shrub era.

[JackRiddler]

38. President Schwarzennegger's activation of Skynet in July 2017...

leading to the nuclear annihilation of humanity later that year.

Oh, woe is us!

[rwenos]

42. When Skynet Became Self-Aware

It's hard to argue THAT moment would be America's worst. On the other hand, maybe I get to be the guy shut up with Clare Danes for the next ten years . . .
:-)

[JackRiddler]

46. Sorry, human, in this timeline you're not John Connor.

And how can you know what your feelings will be after you and Clare eat the same damn potatoes together, every day for ten years? Don't misunderstand, I'm sure she'll wear the extra pounds well, she is sweet with the curves that way.

[rwenos]

52. Dude, You're Spoiling My Digital Dream

But the IDEA of Skynet was kind of cool. Like many things in life, better as an idea than as implemented.

Besides, I understand Clare is very bright, and would tell interesting stories far into the night . . .
:-)

[Vinnie From Indy]

40. Not even close.... Bush elected in 2000

A travesty of justice that has cost he world immeasurably.

[mix]

102. a worthy candidate...the recount loss cost us dearly n/t

[JackRiddler]

41. The revolution, so we could now live free and civilized as Canadians...

and not have to hear the daily PR about the "founding fathers," to whom we owe everything, for they risked all to save us and we would be nothing but dirt today without them and the brave soldiers who obediently serve and march off to bleed for our freedoms in Nowherefuckistan, etc. etc.

[rwenos]

43. Prisoners of Majesty?!

You'd rather be a "SUBJECT" of the Queen?

-gag-

[JackRiddler]

47. Nah...

Just pointing out the hazards of hypotheticals, especially such as are extended centuries past the crux point and thus require about 400,000 covert assumptions.

[leftstreet]

44. plus we'd get national healthcare with that

:thumbsup:

[anonymous171]

45. Uh, without the American Revolution there probably would not be a Canada right now

The Revolution weakened the Monarchical system.

[JackRiddler]

48. I'm sure North America would have cut loose earlier than India...

and under better conditions.

Anyway, I'm just screwing around. We can't know the answer to any hypothetical, and speculation is only sustainable for a short period following the posited divergence, as past that too many variables come into play.

[anonymous171]

49. Good point. nt

[rwenos]

51. Catherine the Great's View

Catherine the Great, a German woman who ended up Tsarina of all the Russias, famously observed "I should sooner hold a pistol to my head and pull the trigger, as give up the American colonies."

An astute observer of politics, that Catherine.

[spoony]

66. Not really.

America likes to think it changes things in a vacuum, but that's just not so. The British had other matters on their plate at the time, including a king on the throne with a disintegrating psyche. The role of the monarch evolved from domestic politics rather than foreign policy. You are right, though, that Canada might be very different if not for the American war. The violent oppression of British loyalists drove many north of the border, where they played important roles in the development of the country.

[spoony]

61. Abso-fucking-lutely

As sort of an outsider, it's bewildering to watch the mental gymnastics required by people--especially liberals--to stand by the fraud of the "founding fathers." As if America would have been screwed if it had run the course of other civilised realms of the British.

[RB TexLa]

50. Having not come to the aid of France against england in 1792. We could have prevented a lot of

suffering in the world by destroying that island.

[smalll]

65. Um, are you saying we should have "destroyed that island" meaning Britain?

Are you saying we should have joined with France immediately upon the commencement of hostilities between Revolutionary France and the rest of Europe? (Which is an arguable point.) But it sounds like you would have wanted us perhaps to help Napoleon later on to conquer Britain entirely -- what do you mean exactly by "destroying that island?" What do you have against the British? And couldn't you just refuse to drink with them instead of wish destruction upon them?

[Selatius]

74. He basically means he wanted to bring down the British Empire in 1792.

A fair number of Americans back then wanted to see the English Crown brought down and beheaded following so soon after America's own Revolution and the Empire dismembered.

[ret5hd]

157. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Excellent.

[LeftishBrit]

71. Lovely....

:sarcasm:

[HughBeaumont]

156. Yep, I don't know why he's still here either.

[davidinalameda]

54. the 2007 WVU Pitt game

that cost WVU the shot at the national title

[CBR]

88. LOL! Dont remind me...

I went to see Jon Stewart that night at the local university assuming WVU would win. I got in the car after the show and it was the end of the game. Completely devastating.

[davidinalameda]

94. I know!!!!!

I couldn't believe it

I still wonder if RRod had thrown that game

[Howzit]

57. Christopher Columbus' ship sinks before he discovers America

If Columbus hadn't discovered America it would still be inhabited by its rightful native owners, rather than the thieving colonizers from Europe. The colonizers brought in slaves to replace the natives they had killed off and everything went downhill from there.

How can you happily benefit from a historical foundation of events and then selectively wish away only those that offend your sensibilities?

The only thing that is certain, is those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

[anonymous171]

59. It was only a matter of time before the Europeans discovered the Americas

If not Columbus than someone else.

[Howzit]

125. Missing the point

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5432724&mesg_id=5436282

[scrinmaster]

83. And the native owners came to America through Siberia.

Humans spread, if Europeans hadn't colonized the Americas, Asians would have.

[dem629]

140. Where do you live?

[Howzit]

141. Perhaps this will answer the real question?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5432724&mesg_id=5436282

[dem629]

144. Nope.

[Howzit]

148. California

Now what?

[RandomThoughts]

60. To add a wrinkle to the question.

Would you go back in time and change things? and at what cost?

Do you change the things you don't like today, so the children of the future can say "If they could, they would go back and be like you were when you made a difference." Interesting thoughts.

Would you change a time line that you were 'important' to one where you just get by in order to make the world better? What if you knew that change would mean you would not meet that special person (butterfly effect). What if it meant your life would be tougher?

In the Terminator series, stopping Skynet, made John Connor very ordinary...


And without temporal lore, that is what people that serve, knowing it is not for glory, and not for prize, do all the time.

I think they are the real heroes in life. People that give a few hours of time, a few dollars they can spare, or even a smile, just because it is part of what they want to be.


(This is not a condemnation, saying people should always do more, many people do what they can, and it may be less or more then others, but it doesn't seem to be there is a score card for that kind of thing. Just thinking on the topic.)

[beyurslf]

64. Slavery here

[Ken Burch]

67. I'd stop the assassination of Robert Kennedy

Whoever fired that shot behind Bobby's ear doomed the world to forty years of misery.

[LeftishBrit]

69. Personally, the election of Joe McCarthy

I have elderly friends and a relative who were affected by the nasty situation he created (most of them left America as a result), so I feel strongly about it.

From a more long-term universal point of view: the genocide of the Native Americans.

In the case of the UK: in recent history, the election of Thatcher. In older history: too many to choose from.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

76. The one event!

[Dead_Parrot]

77. Gigli

Seriously, on behalf of the Rest of the World: We can let you off the oil wars, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, allowing the dumbest fuck in history to occupy the white house, the attempted genocide of the natives, the apartheid, and that unfortunate incident with the tea.

But Gigli? that was fucking uncalled for.

Oh, and if there are any Canadians hanging around looking smug, we haven't forgotten Bryan Adams either.

[Adsos Letter]

78. The acceptance of slavery in the colonies...

from the first delivery by the Dutch, on...

[Peace Patriot]

79. In my lifetime, the assassination of John Kennedy.

Recommended: "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters," by James Douglass.

A real eye-opener. Forty years later, we have not gotten over it, and we have not seen the end of the consequences of that dreadful deed.

----------------------------

In all of U.S. history? I would change Thomas Jefferson keeping, rather than freeing, his slaves. He knew that slavery was wrong. He knew it would lead to civil war eventually. If he had followed his conscience, he might have precipitated the slavery crisis earlier, short of the dreadful war that eventually occurred--by providing an example to his Virginia brethren of the right thing to do. He might also have lost his lands, what little money he had, and his political power, and gotten himself thrown out of Virginia, and died in obscurity and poverty, if he had freed his slaves. And he might have been shot, like Lincoln. And it was not a simple matter. Virginia did not permit freed slaves to remain in Virginia. So, unless he abandoned Montecello--all that he had--if he had freed his slaves, he would have lost his family. They would have had to leave. And my guess is that it would been a useless gesture, as to convincing other southerners to do the same.

So let me amend my wish. I wish that Thomas Jefferson had freed his slaves, and had been so eloquent in explaining his reasons to his fellow southerners, that they all "got religion"--that is to say, made real their commitment to democracy and freedom and the "rights of man"--and did the same.

The potential was there, in Jefferson. It is a tragedy that it was not fulfilled. He is a genuine tragic figure, in my view--a man trapped by his era, by circumstances, in a profound violation of his deepest beliefs, and seeing no way out of it. He complains in letters, in his old age, that he could not do another revolution (anti-slavery). He was exhausted (and, although he doesn't say it, nearly penniless.) There is that. It's awfully easy to say, looking back through history, "Why didn't you do the right thing?" "Why didn't you do more?"

But we're dealing in fancies here, aren't we? So I would like to re-write history that way. Thomas Jefferson freed his slaves, and wrote so eloquently about being true to the revolution, that, although it caused great turmoil, Washington followed suit, and many others began to do it, and those still holding slaves became pariahs and lost their grip on power. And all the slaves were freed, and got a hundred year jumpstart on establishment of their civil rights. And there was no civil war.

---------------------

One other thing I would like to change: the Louisiana Purchase, and the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson again. Acquisition of the western half of the U.S. might have been all right, if it had been done as a Native American protectorate, once again in the true spirit of the "rights of man," with the U.S. military tossing out the Spanish conquistadors, and guaranteeing Native American land rights and sovereignty.

OR, the French remained. William Carlos Williams contends, in an essay, that America would have been a far better country if the French had won it, and not the English--because the French were not racist assholes. If the French had remained in their territory, it would have put a check on the westward decimation of the Native Americans that the English colonial revolutionaries eventually inflicted. And it might well have influenced the southern states to give up slavery voluntarily, over the next half century, thus, no civil war. The French were not saints, for sure--but, as Williams points out, they dug Native American culture, and easily integrated with it, in ways that English Puritans could never do.

Ah, well. I would also have had a very different Reformation. The Protest-ants shouldn't ever have gone after Church art. If you are going to define art as "decadent," then fuck you, and your fucked up Puritan culture.

That's something else I would change. The people who came over here "on the Mayflower" from England were fleeing persecution by the fun-loving, theater-loving, bawdy English of the Restoration of Charles II. Their evil, repressive form of Christianity put a permanent stamp of religious madness on the U.S. I would back up our history to that moment--the Restoration--and somehow change (but not prevent) the Restoration, so that the Puritans could live with it, or could have been tolerated. Maybe it would have to go back to Charles I, and his dethronement by the Cromwellians. Make Charles II's father a better king. Then we wouldn't have the likes of Jerry Falwell to deal with.

[rucky]

81. Manhattan Project

[PCIntern]

82. Chico Ruiz stealing home in 1964 against the Phillies in a 1-0 game

causing them to go into a tailspin from which they never recovered.

Just kidding of course...Kennedy Assassination in my lifetime I suppose...probably more seminal events, had they been prevented, such as Bay of Pigs calamity, might have been greater in the cause-and-effect realm, but who knows?

[SlingBlade]

84. Prescott Bush being tried and convicted of treason for

working with the Nazis

I think that'd take care of any future, complications.

There are many good one's here, Hard to choose just one

:kick:

[asteroid2003QQ47]

128. Prescott Bush tried and convicted of treason in Amerika? Never happen!

The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics

By Edwin Black

Mr. Black is the author of IBM and the Holocaust and the just released War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race, from which the following article is drawn.

Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called "Master Race."

But the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.
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Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America's most respected scientists hailing from such prestigious universities as Stamford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics' racist aims.
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The Harriman railroad fortune paid local charities, such as the New York Bureau of Industries and Immigration, to seek out Jewish, Italian and other immigrants in New York and other crowded cities and subject them to deportation, trumped up confinement or forced sterilization.

The Rockefeller Foundation helped found the German eugenics program and even funded the program that Josef Mengele worked in before he went to Auschwitz.
<>
Even the United States Supreme Court endorsed aspects of eugenics. In its infamous 1927 decision, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind…. Three generations of imbeciles are enough." This decision opened the floodgates for thousands to be coercively sterilized or otherwise persecuted as subhuman. Years later, the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials quoted Holmes's words in their own defense.
<>
During the '20s, Carnegie Institution eugenic scientists cultivated deep personal and professional relationships with Germany's fascist eugenicists. In Mein Kampf, published in 1924, Hitler quoted American eugenic ideology and openly displayed a thorough knowledge of American eugenics. "There is today one state," wrote Hitler, "in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception are noticeable. Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States."
http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html

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Bush was born in Brick Church, Orange, New Jersey<1>, the son of Harriet Fay and the Rev. James Smith Bush, an Episcopal priest at Grace Church in Orange, New Jersey.

Samuel Prescott Bush (October 4, 1863 – February 8, 1948) was an American industrialist and entrepreneur, and the patriarch of the Bush political family. He was the father of U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, grandfather of former U.S President George H. W. Bush, and great-grandfather of former U.S. President George W. Bush.
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Just two years later, in 1901, he returned to Columbus to be General Manager of Buckeye Steel Castings Company, which manufactured railway parts. The company was run by Frank Rockefeller, the brother of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, and among its clients were the railroads controlled by E. H. Harriman. The Bush and Harriman families would be closely associated at least until the end of World War II. In 1908, Rockefeller retired and Bush became President of Buckeye, a position he would hold until 1927, becoming one of the top industrialists of his generation.

http://www.answers.com/topic/samuel-p-bush

[BulletproofLandshark]

85. The rise of the military-industrial complex.

IMO our entire post-WWII history would have been dramatically better had the warmongers been kept out of power.

[NashVegas]

89. I Wish I Could Say "Dropping the A-Bomb"

But if we didn't do it, someone else would have, eventually. Regardless, development of that technology may be the single largest destructive action in modern history. Having the Bomb forced us to become a paranoid nation, along with others.

So that leaves me #2 - the SCOTUS decision that allowed patents to be assigned for life forms.

[CBR]

90. Without a doubt...

slavery and the Trail of Tears.

[H2O Man]

91. That's easy.

I'd go back to the day that I was injured in a car accident, and take a different route.

[ThomWV]

93. 1950 and the issue of the first general purpose Credit Card. It doomed America.

[azmouse]

95. Raygun interferring with the Iranian hostages situation.

It allowed him to win the election.
If Raygun had never been President so much of the war against the middle class never would have happened.

[omega minimo]

108. & the war against democracy. Mine is OLLIE NORTH IS NOT A HERO FOR SUBVERTING THE CONSTITUTION

[mitchum]

96. Bush Sr making it out safely after he sent his crew to their deaths...

or
Hinckley's piss poor aim

[Sebastian Doyle]

97. The birth of Prescott Bush.

Just by eliminating that one fucking piece of shit from history, I would eliminate all the crimes done by him, his sons, and his grandsons. Which would include most of the major crimes since the mid 1920's.

[G_j]

98. the murder of MLK Jr. nt

[rhett o rick]

101. The genocide of the Native Peoples of America. nm

[alfredo]

105. Personhood for corporations

[kiranon]

135. Agree and it needs to be reversed.

[alfredo]

139. That would be a good crusade.

[Carni]

106. Bush

I Dropping atom bomb was obviously horrendus, but when all is said and done, I think bush may have taken more casualties over the course of eight years.

[morgan2]

109. pardoning of nixon

It was the start of the recent batch of letting presidents get away with subverting the constitution.

If you wanna further go back, Lincoln not letting the South succeed and suspending Habeas Corpus. Although Lincoln had a lot more noble reasons, I think states should be able to leave the union if they choose.

[3waygeek]

111. The decision in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad">Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific, in which the USSC parenthetically stated that the Fourteenth Amendment applies to corporations.

[CLG_News]

112. Diebold 'voting' machines should have been destroyed....

...prior to the 2000 coup d'etat.
Only then would enough media attention have been paid to the danger of electronic 'voting' and what has happened since 2000.
BTW, not only was the 2000 'election' stolen by GOPigs but also many 2002 seats (hence, tipping Congress to the Republicans, even in the aftermath of the Enron scandal, etc.).
Obusha, of course, won't do anything about election reform. He got his prize - the presidency - he doesn't give a damn about the 'Left.' He has 'sold out' the leftwing of the party - lock, stock and barrel.

[pipi_k]

116. I'm really surprised nobody said...

"The Disco Era"


ha ha :7




Seriously, though...I would choose to have prevented the rise of the Religious Right.

I almost said I'd have prevented sperm and egg from meeting and becoming Dubya, but I think the people behind Bush would only have managed to find some other dumbass figurehead to put in front of the RW idiots.

[ananda]

117. Bush v. Gore decision

nt

[dysfunctional press]

119. i'd go back and give the native americans machine guns to repel european explorers and settlers...

that would be cool.

[depakid]

121. Toss up: Entry into WWI -or not permitting the Confederacy to secede.

Either one would have drastically altered the course of history.

[ThomWV]

124. Either my parent's divorce or maybe the death of my grandfather.

[Peace_Sells]

126. 1980 election

The 1980 election. Carter wins 2nd term. Democrats gain in house and senate.

[jimlup]

146. Yes, for those of us old enough to remember that was really the start of ...

The current wave of bullshit that culminated in the ridiculous last 8 years of piled higher and much deeper...

[csziggy]

130. The sucess of the various religiously based colonies - I wish they had failed

Let's start at the beginning - if those religious zealots had not gotten a foothold, maybe there would have been a different approach towards the colonization of the continent, possibly even reasonable attitudes towards the inhabitants. Of course, that would not have stopped the large death rates from introduced diseases, but may have slowed the additional slaughter of the survivors and their descendants. And then this country would not be so rooted in religion, especially the religiously extremist whack jobs that gave us such lovely history as the Salem Witch Trials and the Mountain Meadow slaughter by Mormons.

Recent history - No pardon for Noxin, and prosecution and conviction of the Watergate burglars and real investigations into the higher ups who facilitated them, including Noxin and his White House crooks. If those crimes and the defense of them based on the "Imperial White House" had been properly and fully prosecuted, many of the traitors who worked for Reagan's campaign would have either have been in prisons or totally discredited. Carter might have been re-elected and able to accomplish many of his goals for energy independence and more peace treaties.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

134. letting rupert murdoch become an american citizen.

[Kat45]

137. Corporate personhood

A lot of our problems wouldn't exist if it wasn't for that.

[Undercurrent]

138. .

If you could reverse or prevent one event in all of American history...

Two things: Genocide and Slavery

How shameful it is that our country was built on the bones of the people who already lived hear, and the backs of slaves.

[dweller]

142. walking upright

it was breezier in the trees ...

dp

[lies and propaganda]

143. Katrina

Its the worst thing that I have ever seen or felt in my lifetime.. something i dont think i will ever be able to get over.

[Lyric]

147. The assassination of Dr. King.

Sure, I could have said something bigger--like Columbus dying before he ever reached the Caribbean. But would the outcome have been any better if someone else from Europe had "discovered" America? It was only a matter of time. If it hadn't been Columbus, it would have been someone else--perhaps someone worse.

I could have chosen another murdered hero, taken from us far too soon--Lincoln, JFK, Bobby Kennedy. I could have chosen for Roosevelt to NOT have died on the day he did, in hopes that he might have survived a few years longer and perhaps not have made Truman's stumbles and mistakes. I could have chosen for Prescott Bush to die as an infant. I could have chosen for Carter to win over Reagan.

But in the end, I choose Dr. King. Unlike Lincoln, JFK, or RFK, Dr. King was truly irreplaceable in his time. There were other politicians to take up the standards of the aforementioned men, but King's shoes have been left empty since the day he fell on that hotel balcony. Unlike Columbus, we *know* what difference King's survival would have made. Unlike Roosevelt, King was a healthy man who had decades of good work to be done still. There would have been another dictator-patriarch ready to fill Prescott Bush's place, but there was no other black healer-visionary to take the place of Dr. King.

He was the one person who was unequivocally, undeniably, irreplaceably GOOD in our history. He was the kind of soul that doesn't come around very often, and we failed to protect him and cherish him while we had him--or at least, some of us failed. That beautiful man was a national treasure, perhaps the greatest we ever had. He could bring people together in love and brotherhood in a way that no one else has ever been able to duplicate here in America. He was a poet-priest to his bones, in manner and soul if not in form, and if he had lived to the ripe old age he deserved, our nation would be completely different. The poor in America would have had his voice. The downtrodden and the oppressed would have had his voice. The black community gave him to us, but he gave himself to everyone who suffered from injustice, poverty, and hate.

His loving, powerful, gentle spirit has been sorely needed in this nation. We bleed still from that wound even to this day, even if we don't always realize it. Every bit of strife between communities of oppressed people pitted against each other by the wealthy elites is another mourning dirge for his loss.

Rest in peace, Dr. King--a brother in spirit, if not in skin.

:(

[rcrush]

149. Easy. Get rid of Prescott Bush and you might prevent most major wars of the 20th century

And Iraq part 1 and 2.

No Prescott Bush and he cant give money to Hitler so maybe no World War 2.

NO HW Bush in the CIA starting wars possibly killing Kennedy no Iraq 1

No Bush Jr to start Iraq 2 or Afghanistan.


The Bush family is clearly the spawn of Satan.

[GaYellowDawg]

150. Turn Carter's failed hostage rescue attempt into complete success...

I would love to have seen this...

The hostage rescue attempt succeeds. Carter is reelected and Democrats retain control of both houses of Congress. With the fanatics discredited by losing the hostages, more moderate elements take power of Iran. In order to weaken the radicals further, Iranian moderates reveal the Reagan campaign's negotiations to hold the hostages until after the inauguration. A Congressional investigation results in lifetime sentences for treason for William Casey and George HW Bush, among other members of the Reagan campaign, and leads to a major purge of the CIA. The Republican Party becomes known as the party of treason and fragments.

Imagine it... no Reagan administration. No "Reagan revolution." The 80s might have been a decade of responsibility instead of self-indulgence. How much better would our world be right now?

[Duer 157099]

152. Omit the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution

Only because it's a single event that would have dramatic effect on how this country evolved.

And not because I'm so anti-gun either - just would be nice if the argument were never even possible.

Plus I want to see how many more people put me on ignore.

[HamdenRice]

153. Lincoln launching the Civil War to keep the South in the Union

There are obviously others, like slavery, but an overlooked one we mythologize is the Civil War. If Lincoln had let the slave states go there own way, we wouldn't have been saddled with the South and its politics of racism and stupidity.

Five of my great grandparents were slaves and one of them escaped north. If the South had gone its own way, and the North and West no longer were bound by the Fugitive Slave Act, it's pretty obvious that the vast majority of slaves would have escaped to freedom, leaving southerners to stew in their backwardness, and eventually white people would have had to pick their own cotton.

In fact, because the principle of the Confederacy was state supremacy, the South itself would have probably broken up into a half dozen or so relatively harmless north American Paraguays.

The North would have prospered but the West might have become a third country. The world would not have been saddled with the American Empire from 1899 until its fall under George Bush. The Union would have been a voluntary association rather than a death pact.

Not to mention the millions who would not have lost their lives.

[GeorgeGist]

154. The accidental discovery ...

of the New World by greedy people.

[Vidar]

158. Alexander Hamilton would have died 25 years earlier, & we might have remained true

to the ideals of the revolution.

[leftchick]

159. the genocide of Native Americans

.

[Joe Fields]

160. the RFK assassination.

If that had not taken place, we would not have had Nixon, Reagan or Bush. The world would be a much better place.