What if there was no USA in the world?

[Joe Knapp]

As someone who has lived almost a third of my life outside the USA, I may have a different perspective on world events. 

The world is filled with some unpleasant people. Many in power are selfish, cruel people.  If there were no USA, communism in its many forms would rule the world. 

The only thing stopping it is God. 

War is terrible. But according to the Bible, war has been with us for thousands of years.  The Bible shows us that God constrains evil people through war. 

Since world war two, the world has been a place where many can live in peace and safety.  Oh, sure there have been smaller regional wars, but overall, the world population has lived in relative peace and many cases prosperity.   That appears to be changing. The new weapons of war, allow even small players to have an active role.  

        I suspect many people of power have been carefully studying the war in Ukraine and Russia. And now the Iran /Israel/USA war. There are many lessons to be learned there. Missiles, Drones and Electronics and Propaganda have emerged as primary weapons. I expect to see countries experiment and expand these weapons. 

     This is a time when we need wisdom. Where we need to draw closer to God.  Things are really changing. In order to understand these changes, and to protect our families, we need the Holy Spirit more than ever. 

 

 

[phkrause]

Than God would have another country that would've been there to do what he needed!!

[Joe Knapp]

Maybe not. If we look at the history before the USA, we see that the world was ruled by the British, Portuguese, and Spanish.  

These were not good times to live. 

British colonies/territories historically. Below is a concise region-by-region summary of the average person’s quality of life (income/food, housing, work, health, education, rights). If you want a specific time period for any region, say which and I’ll adjust.

• British India (including modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar/Burma for much of period)
  • Income/food: Low real incomes for peasants; frequent famines; dependence on subsistence agriculture or cash crops.
  • Housing: Simple rural dwellings; overcrowded, poor sanitation in growing towns.
  • Work: Agrarian labor, tenant farming, seasonal migration; some artisans displaced by imports.
  • Health: High mortality, periodic famines, limited public health concentrated in ports/railways.
  • Education: Minimal for masses; English-medium schooling for elites.
  • Rights: Little political power; legal subordination; limited civil rights.

• Ireland (under Union and later 19th century)

  • Income/food: Widespread rural poverty; heavy dependence on potato for poor; Great Famine catastrophic.
  • Housing: Smallholder cabins; significant evictions; poor sanitary conditions in urban slums.
  • Work: Small-scale farming, seasonal labor, emigration common.
  • Health: High mortality during famines and epidemics; poor rural health infrastructure.
  • Education: Limited but expanding with national schools; literacy rising.
  • Rights: Political and land grievances; limited representation until later reforms.

• Caribbean sugar colonies (e.g., Jamaica, Barbados)

  • Income/food: For enslaved period — brutal deprivation; post‑emancipation — low wages, landlessness.
  • Housing: Cramped slave barracks; post‑slavery peasant shacks or labor cottages.
  • Work: Plantation labor under harsh conditions; long hours.
  • Health: High disease burden (malaria, yellow fever), poor nutrition among laborers.
  • Education: Minimal for enslaved; missionary/small schools slowly after emancipation.
  • Rights: Enslaved had none; freed populations faced discriminatory laws and economic constraints.

• West and Central Africa (protectorates and colonies)

  • Income/food: Mixed—subsistence farming common; cash-crop zones (e.g., cocoa, palm oil) with boom‑bust cycles.
  • Housing: Rural mud/thatched homes; growing urban squatter settlements.
  • Work: Farming, mining, forced labor in some areas; wage labor in ports/plantations.
  • Health: High infectious disease burden; some colonial medical services in towns.
  • Education: Limited missionary schools; low literacy for most.
  • Rights: Traditional authorities co-opted or sidelined; limited political rights.

• East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania under various arrangements)

  • Income/food: Smallholders often displaced for settler farms; wage labor on plantations and railways.
  • Housing: Rural huts; influx to towns created poor housing.
  • Work: Heavy infrastructure projects (rail), plantation labor; coerced labor in places.
  • Health: Epidemics and poor access in rural areas; some colonial clinics.
  • Education: Mission schools limited access.
  • Rights: Indigenous land dispossession; restricted political participation.

• Southern Africa (South Africa, Rhodesia)

  • Income/food: Racialized land dispossession; African labor tied to mines and settler farms; migrant labour systems.
  • Housing: Poor compound or township housing for African workers; settler housing much better.
  • Work: Dangerous mine work, low wages for black workers; skilled positions reserved for whites.
  • Health: Mining diseases, poor urban sanitation for blacks.
  • Education: Segregated and unequal schooling.
  • Rights: Systemic racial discrimination; political disenfranchisement of indigenous populations.

• Australia & New Zealand (settler colonies)

  • Income/food: For European settlers — relatively high standards; for Indigenous peoples — dispossession, food insecurity.
  • Housing: Settler homes varied from rudimentary to comfortable; Indigenous displacement into missions/reserves.
  • Work: Settlers farmed, ran sheep, or worked in towns; Indigenous forced into marginalized labor.
  • Health: Settlers benefited from imported medical care; Indigenous populations suffered catastrophic disease impacts.
  • Education: Public schools for settlers; limited for Indigenous children.
  • Rights: Settlers had political institutions; Indigenous peoples denied rights and land.

• Canada (British North America)

  • Income/food: Settler farmers and tradespeople generally modest but stable; Indigenous peoples suffered dispossession.
  • Housing: Varied by region—frontier cabins to urban housing, often poor in growing towns.
  • Work: Farming, logging, trade, fur; industrial jobs in cities.
  • Health: Rural challenges; urban sanitation issues during industrialization.
  • Education: Expanding public schooling for settlers.
  • Rights: Settlers had representation; Indigenous peoples faced treaties, restriction, and loss of autonomy.

• Colonial America (13 colonies before independence)

  • Income/food: Mixed—smallholders, artisans, and merchants; slavery central in the South.
  • Housing: Rural farms, urban colonial houses; enslaved quarters poor.
  • Work: Farming, trade, crafts; enslaved labor in plantations.
  • Health: Frontier disease risks; periodic epidemics in ports.
  • Education: Higher literacy in New England; variable elsewhere.
  • Rights: White male landowners held political power; others marginalized.

• Mediterranean & Middle East territories (e.g., Egypt, Palestine, Aden)

  • Income/food: Mixed urban-rural divides; cash-crop and irrigation projects altered livelihoods.
  • Housing: Urban overcrowding; rural villages with traditional housing.
  • Work: Peasant agriculture, wage labor in ports and construction.
  • Health: Urban public health improvements uneven; rural healthcare limited.
  • Education: Mission and colonial schools alongside traditional systems.
  • Rights: Local elites often retained influence but with constrained sovereignty.

• Hong Kong & other East Asian holdings

  • Income/food: Dense urban poverty among laborers; trading and shipping created mercantile wealth for some.
  • Housing: Overcrowded tenements; poor sanitation for working classes.
  • Work: Dockwork, small manufacturing, trade; long hours.
  • Health: Periodic epidemics; limited public health for the poor.
  • Education: Mission and colonial schools; selective access.
  • Rights: Limited political rights; colonial legal systems applied.

• Malta, Gibraltar, smaller strategic islands

  • Income/food: Strategic garrison economies—some local prosperity from servicing military/ports.
  • Housing: Urban settings, military quarters; variable standards.
  • Work: Port services, military-related employment.
  • Health: European-style clinics in garrison towns.
  • Education: Schools available; higher literacy.
  • Rights: Local populations had some municipal institutions but strategic control remained British.

• Protectorates & informal influence zones (e.g., Persia concessions, Suez Canal zone)

  • Income/food: Often little improvement for average people; economic gains concentrated with elites and foreign firms.
  • Housing: Traditional housing persisted; urban zones near foreign enclaves saw change.
  • Work: Limited modern employment; many remained in traditional livelihoods.
  • Health: Uneven improvements; colonial enclaves had better services.
  • Education: Elite access to modern schooling; masses largely excluded.
  • Rights: Sovereignty curtailed; limited political recourse against foreign control.

Things changed when USA became a world power. Radical improvement after WW2.