This paragraph has been tacked onto the foot of Pat Buchanan's insightful analysis almost as an afterthought leaving the unguarded with the impression that our weakness is the exclusive result of our foreign military adventures rather than of our domestic and trade foolishness.
If one asks, which has had the more deleterious effect on America's position as superpower, foreign wars or our domestic spending and trade policies, the question might be close but the answer ultimately is we have weakened ourselves primarily by our spending and squandering at home and by our mindless trade policy abroad.
If we were to stop our international adventurism, if we were to refrain from engaging in Ukraine and elsewhere, we would still be hurtling toward the cliff edge. The problem is our economy but the solution is not simple isolationism. Yes, we must refrain from enervating foreign entanglements just as George Washington warned but we must engage when our national interests are really at stake. And we must be able to do so.
To be able to engage when critically necessary, we must have the economy providing the means. Cure the economy, because coming home alone won't save us.
Put that paragraph at the top of the article.
