Split Personality?

[Morwen]

My point is very simple.

The entire LOTR revolves around the idea that the ring must be destroyed because if Sauron gets it he will then take over Middle-earth. Supposedly, the ring is the only thing standing in the way of his all out domination of all the peoples of the world.

But that is a serious flaw in the entire underpinnings of the novel and plot. You see , Sauron already had the ring and had it for a good long time. And while he did conquer some lands and the peoples upon it, he certainly was not able to do what everybody at the Council of Elrond fears will happen if he gets it again.

Premise: we have to destroy the ring or Sauron will get it and rule the world and kill or enslave us all.
Flaw: Sauron already had the ring for a long time and did not rule the world and kill or enslave everyone.

That is my point.

At the Second Age the Free Peoples were capable of matching the military might of Sauron (with Ring) with military might of their own. They are NOT able to do this in the Third Age and in fact a Ringless Sauron was already a grave threat to them. To argue that "Sauron already had the ring for a long time and did not rule the world" ignores the fact that the ability of the Free Peoples to oppose him has changed dramatically.
Given that they cannot hope to overcome Sauron by mililtary means they have to look for other options to defeat him. And in discussing their options at the Council of Elrond it is made clear that sending the Ring to the Fire is not merely a matter of keeping it out of Sauron's hands. It is in fact considered their best hope of defeating him. The premise therefore isn't simply that "we have to destroy the ring or Sauron will get it and rule the world and kill or enslave us all". No, "we have to destroy the Ring because doing so will rid us of the problem of Sauron once and for all".