How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty • Hacker News Board

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#51

Post by well_ackshually » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #12

well_ackshually wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Who handed the US all these things?

Europeans with the money and investments. Native americans who taught the first americans to survive off the land. The slave labor that americans were very happy to have that built their country. Europeans again with two consecutive world wars that led to the rise of the american industries and military complex.

Americans are not the self made men they made themselves believe to be. Played it well? Certainly. Starting with all the possible cards in your hand and geopolitical stability makes it very easy to do so.

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#52

Post by jmyeet » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC

stasomatic wrote: post #48

CMay wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Russia - 1861. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia It's curious that serfdom rarely comes up. Not exactly slavery, but was, practically. Not conquered peoples, not POWs, "just local peasants".

Follow-up question: who freed the serfs of 19th century Russia?

Here's another (not so) fun fact: over a million serfs were freed in 1959. "Serf" is actually generous because these serfs could be traded like property. You know, like slaves. Where was this? Tibet [1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfs%27_Emancipation_Day

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#53

Post by well_ackshually » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

fusslo wrote: post #14

well_ackshually wrote: post #6

[flagged]

> "country that lived in easy mode succeeds", yay. or "How to say you know nothing about American history without saying you know nothing about American history"

Mate, american history is so recent it can basically be covered in detail in a single middle school year. The US has had zero real external threats post revolution, so much land and resources it can afford to burn them for fun and was the recipient of the entire world's brain drain. Take a random south american country and it'll have a dramatically harder history. Including the part where the US probably attacked them or manipulated their elections.

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#54

Post by well_ackshually » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 3:28 PM UTC

acheron wrote: post #42

brodouevencode wrote: post #35

[flagged]

This is what HN is now, sadly.

I'm sorry, did you believe that HN is a US-only website? Ask dang to geoblock the rest of the world then.

Or maybe, just maybe accept that the US is a highly divisive country and that pretty much nobody in the world really likes you.

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#55

Post by CMay » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 3:31 PM UTC

boelboel wrote: post #49

CMay wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

While I do agree for the most part, some countries which innovated/used resources/used labor better or at the same level as the US didn't have the ability to just send their surplus labor westward to get some 'free' land. We'll never know how the Swiss would've done if they were able to get a population of 50 million.

Well, many Swiss people came to the US and got land or started businesses, so it's not like Swiss people were left out of it. :)

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#56

Post by canucktrash669 » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 3:57 PM UTC

wslh wrote: post #26

canucktrash669 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Argentina's arable land is just 27% of what the USA has. Fact-checking myself... the USA has more arable land than Canada, Australia and Argentina combined. Russia has a lot, but the USA has the most. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_arable_la... Not sure where to find an aggregate growing days figure, but there's clearly less of them per arable surface area in Canada compared to the USA.

The thread was about climate. US is 3.5x greater than Argentina.

Not strictly about climate, also about surface area in optimal climate.

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#57

Post by Windchaser » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC

j05ev1f3 wrote: post #19

canucktrash669 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With shitty climates. The surface area of optimal climate in the US is likely larger than that of all the countries you've named combined. What's optimal? For example in Canada most farmed areas yield only one harvest per year. And most of the land is barren wasteland. You have some of it as well, but it's not the majority of the territory.

Geographic determinism is one of those theories that explains everything after the fact and predicts almost nothing

Most of this isn't geographical determinism, though. The death of the indigenous americans (allowing settlers to come in and take over), the brain drain after WW2, the first modern democracy (even if the Constitution is a bit kludgy), etc., all not geographical determinism.

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#58

Post by Windchaser » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 6:02 PM UTC

Kuyawa wrote: post #47

For 150 years after its independence the US was the land of progress by toil, sweat an innovation... ...then they invented the money printer and it all became lies, bribes and plunder

tbf, it's not like the toil and sweat wasn't partly the toil and sweat of the slaves.

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#59

Post by red-iron-pine » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 7:39 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #28

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #17

In 1939 the US had an outdated navy, army, and air corps. European instability is the direct cause of the change in US military and economic dominance.

It helped that US soil was barely touched during both WW.

it helped that the US was an unspoiled economic powerhouse akin to China today.

the rest of the world annihilated itself while basically nothing happened on US soil, Pearl Harbor & Aleutian Islands notwithstanding

Re: How the U.S. Engineered Its Sovereignty

#60

Post by red-iron-pine » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #43

trollbridge wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would consider Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean to certainly exist, and which formerly were British and Spanish colonies.

The US has actively suppressed any development in countries that could become competitors or non-aligned regional powers. Think Chile, Argentina, and Brazil (at least twice).

Argentina and Brazil do that to themselves

Chile actually signed very lucrative trades deals with the US and serve as a stark contrast to their next door neighbours