When I read about other countries destroying their own infrastructure, I ask myself why the United States doesn’t do the same thing. Well, we did once, in the 1860’s. And since then, maybe we just haven’t had a domestic cause important enough to die for.
Or have we? Or is there any cause that Americans would consider worth dying for? Is there any cause, such as liberty, that if we could achieve it, would justify the death of 3% of our own population, as happened in the American Civil War?
I’m afraid that, more likely, Americans simply believe that no cause is worth the loss of our own personal peace and affluence. We will send our soldiers to die in other lands. But paying such a price here? That would be going too far.
The point is not that America should have more wars, but that Americans value peace over righteousness.
I also note that since the Civil War, it’s true that Americans have sometimes destroyed their own infrastructure. For example, the riots in South Central Los Angeles. But the rioters didn’t think of themselves as destroying their own infrastructure. The Watts riots were not a case of homeowners destroying homes or business owners destroying businesses. Whereas Robert E. Lee was willing to lose his own home during the Civil War because of his own (misguided) loyalty to his state of Virginia.