[Rabble]

"You can see the same pattern in the weeks leading up to the beginning of war. On March 6, 1861, over a month before firing on Fort Sumter, Davis and the Confederate Congress called for an army of 100,000 volunteers, a force much larger than the US Army. Was that the action of a man who wanted peace?"

President Reagan demonstrated that is precisely the action of a man that wants peace through his "Peace Thru Strength" policy regarding the Soviet Union. Being prepared for war often times insures that a war will not become necessary.

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President Reagan demonstrated that is precisely the action of a man that wants peace through his "Peace Thru Strength" policy regarding the Soviet Union. Being prepared for war often times insures that a war will not become necessary.

I'm sure Lenin and Mao also believed that strength was essential to get things done in politics. So do a lot of other political thugs. What would we today think if a breakaway political leader started to accumulate nuclear weapons a couple of weeks after taking power?

If you want to break away from the rest of the country, you have to establish your moral and political legitimacy first. Calling for a force several times the size of the national army, as Davis did, doesn't do that and scares the people you have to convince.