[P8riot]

So we can ruin Obama’s family reunions.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Because we have something worth defending.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Does this argument have any merit?

No, because no one can guarantee if the other side has nukes or not. India, for example, tested five nukes evading American satellites, and the world came to know about the tests only when the country's prime-minister announced it to his parliament.

[2banana]

Either we are the best and greatest hope for the world, or we are not.

And we invented them.

[gate2wire]

What do you think?

[Brett66]

Because America is a force of good in the world and is the only nation that should determine who should or shouldn’t have nuclear weapons.

[Domandred]

The argument sounds good, but just like many leftist ideas doesn’t work in practice. The only country that would follow it is us, leaving everyone else with nukes.

Us having them is the deterrent to other nations using them.

[SoothingDave]

Nukes will be had. The idea that an absolute prohibition would work with something so desireable is ludicrous. How are our gun-free, drug-free schools these days?

Since they will exist, it is incumbent upon the strong and the just (that’s us) to do all we can to prevent the unsavory from obtaining them.

[Dan(9698)]

Does this argument have any merit?

Are you serious?

[Nervous Tick]

>> Why should we have Nukes??

There are many reasons, grasshopper.

1) So we can nuke our enemies
2) because it’s better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them
3) There’s no better way to destroy unnecessary double punctuation in a newbie’s FR post than to nuke it out of existence
4) Jobs at Los Alamos
5) Our nuke weapons program gives Hillary something to exchange with China in return for their buying our worthless treasuries
6) Nukes are just cool
7) I’m getting bored, but there are lots more reasons

[redstateconfidential]

Your president?Your Health Care?Your Government Check?

[ctdonath2]

No, doesn’t have merit.

The reasoning is the same as why police have guns, who don’t allow criminals, children or crazies to have them.

[Texas Fossil]

What a Really Dumb Question! But I would expect something like that form him.

[alexander_busek]

Mos Def: Why should America think we have the right to tell other countries that they cannot have Nuclear weapons when we have them too?

A legitimate question! What right do we have to tell others not to possess nuclear weapons?

Even though I am a conservative, I believe that we have no moral right to prohibit other countries (France, Israel, South Africa, Pakistan, India, etc.) from owning nuclear weapons.

We have no logical arguments, and must therefore use persuasion and - if necessary - force to provent certain countries from coming into possession of nuclear weapons.

Regards,

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

One word: responsibility.

How many nations are responsible enough to have these weapons, to make sure these weapons don’t go rogue, to use these weapons as deterent and not as threats?

Very few.

[mnehring]

Why should America think we have the right to tell other countries that they cannot have Nuclear weapons when we have them too?

Because we invented them, thus, we own the patent and have the right to license that patent to whom we want and withhold that patent to whom we don't want to have it. It is simply protection of intellectual property..._{I bet you never thought you would hear that argument..}

[pfflier]

The nuclear club, as we know it, has excercised effective command and control over the weapons. Sure, the moralists say we used them but that is using historical 20/20 hindsight and is usually rooted in blantant anti-Americanism.

Possession of nukes by an irresponsible government or stateless terrorist group is unthinkable. These entities typically do not have the capabilities to develop their own nukes and must purchase the materials and knowledge on the open market.

[Red Steel]

In one word Deterrence. While China and Russia and other rogue nations have nuclear weapons or are developing them, the United States cornerstone of nuclear defense is to have nuclear weapons to counter. Have you ever heard of the phrase “Peace through Strength”? The phrase is more than catchy saying. Many nations are dictatorial and are therefore unpredictable. Keeping nuclear weapons out of their hands keeps the world safe and a policy that the US would wisely keep. World nuclear proliferation has to be kept in check.

[The Future 2012]

So we can defend ourselves! Who would attack America if they knew we could blow up multiple cities? No one, that’s who. Who does the bully pick on at the playground, the 400 lb, 7 foot tall giant? Or the weakling? We have nukes so we can continue the be the best country in the world.

[WayneS]

Does this argument have any merit?

Sure it has merit. As soon as Mos Def, or whatever the hell his name is, can tell us how to VERIFY that every other country and terrorist organization on the planet has "gotten rid" of ITS nukes.

How about a follow-up question for you?: Assuming that only certain countries/organizations WILL have them, which of the following would you RATHER see in possession of nuclear weapons:

1) Iran or the United States?
2) Venezuela or Great Britain?
3) Communist China or Israel?
4) Pakistan or India?
5) AlQueda or the United States?