Robert Kaplan’s article in the Atlantic concludes with this dire warning;

Defense policy will be increasingly geared toward protecting the homeland, even as globalization makes for a smaller, more intricately connected world. America, in the final analysis, will be better protected, even as its global reach wanes.

I am supposed to worry because… Maybe, I’m just a left wing nut case, but isn’t the protecting the homeland the primary reason that most Americans are willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on the military. I didn’t realize the goal of US defense policy was to ensure that American diplomats get to sit at the cool table at international summits.

I have yet to hear a compelling argument why I should care about America’s global dominance. Even if China were to develop a military that could threaten ours, would it really be so bad? I don’t think anyone in either country is eager to start a war. Same with India, the EU or any other country that could theoretically challenge America’s military. (Not that anyone is even close to challenging us in this area.)

Related posts:

1. “Limits Of Power” by Andrew Bachevich
2. Statists and Power
3. Why I want to get out of America as fast as I can
4. How Can a Conservative Favor Centralization of Power?
5. Mao Nostalgia in China