The Founders on Intervention: American Military Action Abroad (1783-1860)

The fledgling United States could barely support a full time government much less a Military to "provide for the common defense". The British born Americans knew all about their former homeland's adventures in colonizing outposts all over the world and they were determined that the same sense of adventure as well as petty differences Europe would not interfere with the new United States. It was a good foreign policy and it lasted for about 80 years.
 
That was then, this is now. I've never seen a lot of value in trying to divine the "Founders" intentions. It's our government now, and we should guide it according to our values and principles.

The question we need to ask ourselves is: "Do we really need to rule the world?"

To me, the answer is an obvious "no". Our military budget is more than the rest of the world combined, and that is insane. Especially given that most of that is spent to defend the interests of multi-national corporations - not US citizens in general. We need to spend far less money, lives, and effort meddling in the affairs of other nations on behalf of our 'economic interests' (AKA corporate welfare) and focus on our problems at home.
 
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That was then, this is now. I've never seen a lot of value in trying to divine the "Founders" intentions. It's our government now, and we should guide it according to our values and principles.

The question we need to ask ourselves is: "Do we really need to rule the world?"

To me, the answer is an obvious "no". Our military budget is more than the rest of the world combined, and that is insane. Especially given that most of that is spent to defend the interests of multi-national corporations - not US citizens in general. We need to spend far less money, lives, and effort meddling in the affairs of other nations on behalf of our 'economic interests' (AKA corporate welfare) and focus on our problems at home.

Do we need to rule the world? Nope. Do we have a responsibility as the world's last "super-power" to make sure 3,000 Americans aren't killed again in attack by foreign maniacs? You answer that question.
 
Do we need to rule the world? Nope. Do we have a responsibility as the world's last "super-power" to make sure 3,000 Americans aren't killed again in attack by foreign maniacs? You answer that question.

Superpower or not, our government has a primary responsibility of defending us from attack.

Anyway, I'm glad you agree we don't need to rule the world. Our habit of meddling in the affairs of other nations is doing us more harm than good.
 
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We should follow the founders how? Slavery anyone?

"Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing." Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
That was then, this is now. I've never seen a lot of value in trying to divine the "Founders" intentions. It's our government now, and we should guide it according to our values and principles.

The question we need to ask ourselves is: "Do we really need to rule the world?"

To me, the answer is an obvious "no". Our military budget is more than the rest of the world combined, and that is insane. Especially given that most of that is spent to defend the interests of multi-national corporations - not US citizens in general. We need to spend far less money, lives, and effort meddling in the affairs of other nations on behalf of our 'economic interests' (AKA corporate welfare) and focus on our problems at home.

Do we need to rule the world? Nope. Do we have a responsibility as the world's last "super-power" to make sure 3,000 Americans aren't killed again in attack by foreign maniacs? You answer that question.

What does 9/11 have to with Iraq? With Libya? Where are the terrorists there? Massive amounts of our money, yes the money you and I earned are being used to support the military industrial complex. Why do we need such a big military? To protect South Korea? To protect Taiwan? What do these places mean to our National security? Nothing. From my perspective its all about being able to sell weapons to these countries and make a profit for the companies involved.

Afghanistan was a correct call but mission creep came into the mission and instead of getting in and taking care of business we became mired in nation building. Mistake! We should have gotten out of there 6 months after going in.

Iraq was a mistake from the beginning. It matters not whether it was successful or not, the underlying principle was false and they posed no threat to American security or economic interests. It was just a personal attack by Bush against Saddam for trying to kill his daddy using the power of the United States and misinformation.

Libya, another mistake, this time initiated by the mainstream news media, forcing a beleaguered President to be led into a conflict by the French. If it military intervention is called for in Libya then what about Syria? They do harbor terrorists and they do pose a threat to the US!

Yes we need military power but not at the expense of our country. If we let our infrastructure, our education our society fall apart then what are we protecting? Are we protecting others and letting ourselves fall apart? Billions of dollars going overseas to support and prop up other counties. We have people living in the streets, bridges crumbling, roads filled with craters (pothole), flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes. Why not use that money here at home and rebuild America before it is too late!!!
 
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That was then, this is now. I've never seen a lot of value in trying to divine the "Founders" intentions. It's our government now, and we should guide it according to our values and principles.

The question we need to ask ourselves is: "Do we really need to rule the world?"

To me, the answer is an obvious "no". Our military budget is more than the rest of the world combined, and that is insane. Especially given that most of that is spent to defend the interests of multi-national corporations - not US citizens in general. We need to spend far less money, lives, and effort meddling in the affairs of other nations on behalf of our 'economic interests' (AKA corporate welfare) and focus on our problems at home.

Do we need to rule the world? Nope. Do we have a responsibility as the world's last "super-power" to make sure 3,000 Americans aren't killed again in attack by foreign maniacs? You answer that question.

And there's basically more then one way to do that..other then secretly supporting religious maniacs to defeat a rival superpower in a blighted land. You don't want bees buzzing about your house? Don't screw with the hive.
 

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