Should the USA use the military to crush the Mexican drug cartels?
We could do that, or we could train the Mexican government to do it themselves. Set up some camps throughout Central America, and the governments would just send their troops to actually be trained. It would be the same thing as Iraq, but a lot closer to home. The soldiers would not be invading and would only fire if fired upon, just like Iraq. Mexico is already a democracy so that controversy is out the window, and they have already asked for help multiple times. My proposition, take the troops out of Iraq and send them to Mexico. From a place that they aren't wanted to one where they are needed.
Why was the american civil war an important event in history?
The Civil War was very bloody, and much of the reason was the shift from Revolutionary War style tactics of one man-one gun to machines: the machine gun started then with the gatling gun. Also, tactics were forced to adapt from stand-and-take-it when the cannon fires to duck-and-live. A lot of the 20th century weaponry had its start and testing at the American Civil War. The United States actually lost the War of 1812, even tho we managed to get Great Britain to leave our ships alone. The Civil War could have been the nation-breaker if the South were permitted to leave the Union. Much of our victories in later wars was fueled by Southern industries. That settled, the South remains, the U.S. then embarked on a 50 year program culminating in the "Great White Fleet" that announced the new superpower. When Naziism was a problem, war was the answer. When Communist expansion was a problem, war was the answer. When terrorism attacks the innocent, war is the answer. And when slavery was a problem big enough to threaten an entire nation, war was the answer. Having defeated slavery here, the U.S. (along with Great Britain) became a "beacon" of freedom and hope to oppose those who still used slavery (I'm talking to you, Moslems!) Much of our cache with the world is derived from that. BTW, both the first meeting to end slavery and the first meeting for women's equality were held in Christian churches. We're where it started: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11).
When was the last war to be fought on American soil?
Sioux War from 1854 to 1890. The Sioux War included the battle of Little Bighorn, and the massacre at wounded knee.