\n\n“since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the reason that brought forth US global supremacy has ceased to exist. There was an original argument for the United States shouldering the immense burdens of global military dominance: Without it, totalitarian powers would conquer much of the Earth. That would be terrible for the world, the thinking went, and it could be bad for the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem, though, is the pursuit of military dominance since then has created a lot of enemies of the US that didn\u2019t need to be enemies of the US. We\u2019ve engaged in bad behavior ourselves and stimulated it in others<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I worry that \u2014 in a world where the foremost threats to the American people are pandemic disease and climate change \u2014 America will continue to define its biggest threats in military terms, even if they aren\u2019t.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Since 1991, I think almost everybody has lost out, aside from the major defense firms and some ruling elites. America\u2019s strategy has been incredibly destructive for people throughout the greater Middle East, and of course, the Iraq War resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I don\u2019t think the American people have won out, either. I think that we have gotten less safe and more fearful as a society as a result of constantly being told by leaders of both parties that the whole world is out to kill us and that that\u2019s why we\u2019ve got to go to war to kill them first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look, the argument that US military power contributed to world order was very real. The Bretton Woods system<\/a> played an important role in stabilizing global capitalism. But since the 1970s, and especially the 1990s, I think it\u2019s hard to argue that US military dominance somehow underpins everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s very difficult to see how applying sanctions on dozens of countries and waging continual warfare in the greater Middle East somehow serves the general interest of capitalism. Maybe it serves the interests of particular firms, but not the system of capitalism.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What I\u2019m opposed to, first and foremost, is military dominance as an end in itself. That\u2019s what I think it has become in our own time, and I don\u2019t think it began that way. That doesn\u2019t prohibit the US from being a robust power: It\u2019s going to be a great power and it\u2019s going to have a strong military. We should absolutely be able to defend ourselves. I\u2019m not even closing the door on things like humanitarian intervention, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we have to ask, though, is if the US has used all this power wisely and judiciously. It\u2019s clear that we haven\u2019t, and it\u2019s making all of us in America and around the world less safe. Just think of this: Roughly 80 percent<\/a> of all US military interventions have occurred after 1991. Can we really say the millions at home and abroad have had their lives improved by that? I don\u2019t think so.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I\u2019d lead a systematic policy of disentangling the US from regions where its interests are either not vital, as in the Middle East, or not really imperiled, like Europe. I absolutely believe in the capacity of Europeans to manage their own affairs. The United States does not need to be the protector of Europe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “we have to be cautious in observing how China continues to rise and how it behaves. It has not had a record of territorial conquest with anything like the record of past US adversaries, like the Axis powers or the Soviet Union. That\u2019s a good thing, though you wouldn\u2019t know it from all the cries about China\u2019s desire to dominate the world emanating from Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A President Wertheim \u2014 and please let your readers know I\u2019m rolling my eyes as I say that \u2014 would recognize the US has an opportunity to cautiously retrench its position militarily in certain regions as it ramps up cooperation on the issues that really matter. I\u2019d encourage allies and partners in the region to step up to counterbalance China. We still have time to allow that process to happen, and that\u2019d be a good thing since it takes two great powers to make a great-power war.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What I am fearful of right now is that it\u2019s almost impossible for many people in the foreign policy community to envision circumstances in which the United States could ever pull back from a region. I worry about the United States putting itself on the front lines of any potential conflict, which could mean a great-power war. We should avoid being in that situation in the first place if we possibly can.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n