Would America Been Better Off Staying British?
Conrad Black offers up some July 4th heresies:
If the Americans had maintained their British status, they would control Britain and Canada and Australia and New Zealand now (another 120 million people and over $5 trillion of GDP), have all their energy needs met, and enjoy better government than they have actually endured for the past 20 years. It would have been much easier to abolish slavery and, if there had been a Civil War, it would not have lasted long, nor cost a fraction of the 750,000 American lives that it did. There would have been no World Wars or Cold War, or at least no conflict remotely as perilous as those were. The United States would also have less than its current 25 percent of the worldâ??s incarcerated people, and wouldnâ??t have a legal cartel that devours 10 percent of its GDP. These are matters that, though they verge on secular heresy, Americans may want to consider, in between singing splendid anthems and rereading Jeffersonâ??s defamation of poor old George III and his blood libel on the American Indian in the Declaration of Independence, this national holiday.
This is an interesting thought experiment. It's way too complicated to tackle in a mere blog post but I'd suggest right out of the gate that Black underestimates the ease with which slavery could have ended. Nor is it clear why having the U.S. as a part of Great Britain would make either World War avoidable.
