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A thread on HN is a far cry from what a typical American thinks. America doesn’t need to take over other nations in the parochial sense. Rather the number of ba

A thread on HN is a far cry from what a typical American thinks. America doesn’t need to take over other nations in the parochial sense. Rather the number of bases the US has established throughout the world accomplish manifest destiny in a modern fashion. No other country has or has ever had this level or scale of military deployment.

sho 7y ago
I didn't really want to bash on the US too hard but yeah. America has over five hundred overseas military bases. To say no other country even comes close is an understatement. I'm not even saying the US overseas forces are bad. They've been misused, yes, but I don't want to argue about that - it's complicated. To disclaim America's outsize global ambitions, however - for whatever purpose - is just laughable.
- yazaddaruvala 7y ago
  The American government may have some “outsize global ambitions” however the American people don’t want any global expansion. In fact I hear more about Cascadia or Texas seceding than I do about the USA adding new states or territories.
CrystalLangUser 7y ago
That has nothing to do with manifest destiny or even the average American. People are almost completely unaware of how many bases we have abroad, etc. You are trying to paint a portrait of Americans in general that is flagrantly false.
- glitchc 7y ago
  I didn’t think I was bashing or portraying a negative statement, rather shedding light on an objective truth. I can understand that Americans don’t know much at all about those bases. But they do know how much their military is costing (in broad terms) and are happy to continue supporting that. Much evidence points to the sentiment that the US behaves like a modern-day Rome and has attempted (or is attempting) to achieve “Pax Americana” globally. Again, not necessarily a bad concept as the world could always use more stability.
  - munmaek 7y ago
    > But they do know how much their military is costing (in broad terms) and are happy to continue supporting that. Many people explicitly hate this and want to see money diverted from that to stuff like education, etc. Americans aren't one singular unit that agree on issues, especially things like foreign policy.

sho 7y ago

I didn't really want to bash on the US too hard but yeah. America has over five hundred overseas military bases. To say no other country even comes close is an understatement. I'm not even saying the US overseas forces are bad. They've been misused, yes, but I don't want to argue about that - it's complicated. To disclaim America's outsize global ambitions, however - for whatever purpose - is just laughable.

yazaddaruvala 7y ago
The American government may have some “outsize global ambitions” however the American people don’t want any global expansion. In fact I hear more about Cascadia or Texas seceding than I do about the USA adding new states or territories.

CrystalLangUser 7y ago

That has nothing to do with manifest destiny or even the average American. People are almost completely unaware of how many bases we have abroad, etc. You are trying to paint a portrait of Americans in general that is flagrantly false.

glitchc 7y ago
I didn’t think I was bashing or portraying a negative statement, rather shedding light on an objective truth. I can understand that Americans don’t know much at all about those bases. But they do know how much their military is costing (in broad terms) and are happy to continue supporting that. Much evidence points to the sentiment that the US behaves like a modern-day Rome and has attempted (or is attempting) to achieve “Pax Americana” globally. Again, not necessarily a bad concept as the world could always use more stability.
- munmaek 7y ago
  > But they do know how much their military is costing (in broad terms) and are happy to continue supporting that. Many people explicitly hate this and want to see money diverted from that to stuff like education, etc. Americans aren't one singular unit that agree on issues, especially things like foreign policy.