"From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia…could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide."
—- Abraham Lincoln in his adress to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, 1838 (via jamesnord)
a) this may explain some of the fear of Soviet nukes (other than the well-deserved fear) - after they built the Bomb, the US became vulnerable to outside annihilation for the first time. That’s cause for an existential crisis
b) this idea comforts me as I stew with my thoughts of an eventual breakdown of foreign trade and a default on US government obligations - we can get by just fine without either. Not that it would be fun, but we can feed, clothe and finance ourselves
