I used to think being first, being the great nation we were seen as at the end of both world wars was a good goal. Now I don't care about that, not even a bit. I care about our liberty and following our Constitution. I care about disbanding the bulk of the standing army, keeping only our strategic defense forces such as nuclear forces, space force, and whatever is needed to support them - and giving those all out support.
There are two main reasons the Founders despised the idea of a standing army: one was the treatment of the Colonists by the King's army in the colonies - a thing we've simply replaced the Red Coat with a blue-coated policeman today but, still, it is someone who has one job and that is to protect the Government and subdue the people. The second reason they despised standing armies is that having a standing army always leads to foreign intrigue that would be avoided simply by not having such an army.
The Government, of course, found reasons to maintain the standing army almost from the very day the Constitution was ratified. Some of the Federalists may even have had that secret design in the things they fought for in the Constitution.
But what I want for our future and from our Government, is simply to stay out of our lives. Manage the collective defense of the nation. Build some interstate roads to support that first task. Run a posts office. Set standards in arms so that all of the state militias and the People have the right weapons and training for when they are called to service. Stay out of law enforcement. Get rid of the FBI, the ATF, every other armed officer of the law other than the Marshall Service and the Secret Service, returning the enforcement of Federal law back to the States and, when the States fail to keep up, to the Militia.
I used to think also that the Federal Government should get wholly out of education at all levels but the craziness we're going through now with Biden and a weak military made me realize that the Federal Government needs to establish education standards for the States to make sure the militia and those few retained land-based military groups have a pool of people who have the education to be able to understand working with the modern technology our military needs today.
That doesn't lead us to being the greatest nation on earth - at least not militarily and economically. Who cares? I want us to be the greatest nation on earth from a freedom perspective.