Pardon my headline, but I think a large part of our nation’s political dissension is generated by our collective difficulty accepting the simple fact that no matter what we do, our nation is in decline. Our economic and political dominance are waning, not so much because of our failures, but simply because the rest of the world is more competitive. We rose to global dominance after World War II, which left both Europe and the Pacific Rim devastated. Too much of the world has caught up with us economically since then. We are no longer in a position of privilege, but one among peers.
Our persistent military dominance is an incongruous anachronism--other nations have decided that nuclear firepower has no economic value in a world where nobody wants to use it. Our military is no longer a defense force--we have no real military enemies (i.e., countries poised to invade us), just economic ones. The conventional military pretty much exists to protect corporate interests, to launder tax money handed out to wealthy elites, to distract the masses from our decline, and to protect Israel. Terror is better dealt with as a criminal act. And economic power is much more powerful today than military power. Look at our relationship with China today!
I am an Air Force brat, the proud son of a father who was a navigator in both theaters of World War II as well as Korea, and spent two straight weeks on duty in a missile silo in upstate New York during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I love America. But I no longer want the hassles, risks, or expenses of being "leader of the free world". Our Civil War was our own business, and other countries are free to have their own. We cannot win other countries’ civil wars. We have 800 military bases in 70 foreign countries. Why?????
I believe that the sooner we ALL give up on being The Greatest Country on Earth, the sooner we can again become A Really Nice Place to Live. Trump’s nihilistic joke of a presidency is bringing us closer to that prerequisite goal every day.