[nicollo]

Please tell me which moment in US history in which you would be pleased.

[Architect]

Well, things were never perfect, but I would have to say that the Rubicon of American history was William Jennings Bryan's 1896 "Cross of Gold Speech." That marked the date when the Democrats gave into socialism and the word "liberal" lost its meaning. Two years later came the Spanish-American War (the name itself is a lie because it was really a war of conquest by the Americans on the Philippines) and the modern warfare-welfare state was inevitable.

Since the Republicans were socialists from the beginning (of the big business variety), there was no one left to defend small government anymore.

Wilson, who in my book was the worst President ever, then gutted the Constitution with the 16th through 20th amendments, established the Federal Reserve Bank, and got involved in a European war while running roughshod over American liberty at home.

This led directly to the all problems of the twentieth century - the rise of socialism and totalitarianism. While Wilson has a lot to answer for, it's probably true that it was inevitable. If he wasn't there, someone else would have done it, just as someone else would have done what Bryan did. They were simply responding to the temper of their times.

Unlike American Democrats, the British Liberal party never sold out. So Labour took their place, giving the Brits one big business party and one socialist party, just like in the US.