The United States in the latter part of the 20th century overextended itself economically and diplomatically. It made commitments and became overtly involved in locations around the world that had very little to do with critical American interests. The policy cost America dearly in material and human treasure. The reality for the 21st century will be much different. Interested parties should read Washington’s farewell address. It was remarkably prescient and remains relevant.
Political power is cyclical and often swings as a pendulum from left to right over the course of decades.
The pendulum was wildly progressive in the early 20th century with Woodrow Wilson-type pols leading the charge for “equality.” Just a few decades later, the pendulum swung back to nationalism with WWII up through Eisenhower.
Obviously the 60s brought a resurgence of “civil rights” and “equality” discussions leading to a national malaise in the 70s.
Reagan brought us back from the brink in the 80s, Bush started the swing back to the center, and Clinton pushed us off to the left again.
Finally, Bushes came back to push us back to the right and 9/11 galvanized a nationalist unity we hadn’t seen since WWII.
Unfortunately, that nationalism bred a fervent anti-nationalist movement in the leftists, and they came out swinging in 2008 by putting arguably the most progressive, leftist, Communist candidate they could find in Barack Hussein Obama, the Marxist faggot, back in office.
The problem is that the farther you pull the pendulum to the left or to the right, the farther and faster it is going to travel back to the opposite side. After 4 years of Obama, people are tired and worn. After another 4 years, with tax increases on the table, black nationalism turning into anti-white bias in the media and society, gun-control and Obamacare slated to go into effect in 2014 to the likely detriment of societal cohesion, we are most likely going to see the resurgence of an ardent and powerful right-wing nationalism in this country starting in 2014 and swinging quickly into 2016 as Obama’s desperation grows and international stability begins to erode.
Make no mistake, folks, if we live through this administration, America is going to come roaring back and quite possibly as a nationalist, maybe even fascist, powerhouse on the world stage. We need to project strength and unity, but we need to be cautious not to overreach and give the power to a new-age Mussolini.
The problem is identifying and defining "critical American interests."
Today’s world is not the same world of the 18th century. Washington’s farewell address was given as America was a country too weak and small to be involved in most European affairs.
The world has changed since then. What goes on in the rest of the world affects us more than it did then.
In any case, we were involved in foreign entanglements after Washington’s farewell address. Read about the quasi-war and the War of 1812.