Opaque Lucidity

The Arrogant Bump In The Road

June 18, 1812: The United States, barely a generation old, declares war on the British Empire, the world's greatest military power. As the war drags on, the Royal Navy sails up the Potomac and burns part of Washington, DC, including the White House. The nation survives.

April 12, 1861: Confederate soldiers fire upon Federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The ensuing Civil War costs the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and destroys the southern states. The nation survives.

October 24-29, 1929: Stock prices collapse, helping to usher in the Great Depression. By 1933, unemployment is over 25%. The economy remains in a depressed state until 1941. The nation survives.

September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland, starting the Second World War. At the time, the United States has the world's 16th largest standing army. Over 400,000 Americans are killed in the war. The nation survives.

October 16, 1962: President John F. Kennedy is shown pictures of Soviet ICBM installations on the island of Cuba. The political wrangling and blockade that followed will be known as the Cuban MIssile Crisis. As far as public records are concerned, it is the closest the US and the Soviet Union came to actual war. The nations survives.

May 1, 2006: Millions of immigrants, both legal and illegal, stay home from work and take to the streets in an attempt to show the American people how large an effect their work has on the economy. Some immigrant groups maintain that Americans will be hurt by this "day without immigrants".

Um......ok. Whatever. How'd that work out?