And whilst nationhood can have tangible effects on your life (you might live in a US city closer to Tijuana than Ohio, but opinions and issues in Ohio are havin

And whilst nationhood can have tangible effects on your life (you might live in a US city closer to Tijuana than Ohio, but opinions and issues in Ohio are having more impact on who governs you), in this case caring most of all about the people closest to you tends towards having the opposite position on US entry into the war. Its the choice between clamouring to send a bunch of people from your hometown to Europe to avenge the deaths of a small number of people you'd never met who weren't targeted because of anything they may or may not have had in common with you, or not. Takes a lot of talking up American identity and the threat to all of us and what wonderful and inspirational people the Germans have killed to convince you that avenging these strangers is worth a death or two in your own community or family. (I say this as a Brit who thinks that the US speeding up the end of the conflict was a good thing, Fwiw)