there is generally someone who is king of the hill. the ascendancy of china with her current policies is proof that the "end of history" dream of every nation c

there is generally someone who is king of the hill. the ascendancy of china with her current policies is proof that the "end of history" dream of every nation cooperating within a democratic international order is no better than a pipe dream of xanadu. we are accountable to the American people. and yes, a huge chunk of influence is due to us having the biggest bombs. other parts are due to continual largesse, from the Marshall plan post-wwii to the continued support of the IMF and World Bank today. i agree Americans aren't doing as well as we could be. my question is not whether America at the head of the world is doing a perfect job, it's whether specifically Americans will do better under a different system. the chinese one freaking sucks. it's anti-liberty. mainland chinese have no rights to free speech, to bear arms, to equal protection and due process. there is only the party. flint's water has been clean for four years btw. we spend the balance of our budget on non-military matters. defense is less than one-quarter of our spend. perhaps you should examine why we are lighting so much money on fire, primarily to provide outsized levels of healthcare to people who choose to live poorly and to subsidize the old people who already own most of the wealth in the country. perhaps instead, we means-test social security. surely we can wait until boomers have spent down the value of their million-dollar homes before we start cutting them checks each month. the world, the whole world, is a hell of a lot better than it was post-wwii. America has led the world, and most importantly, ourselves, to an age of prosperity that has never before existed. if we want to keep our wealth, our liberty, our way of life, it is essential we use any means necessary to keep any other nation from ever surpassing us in power.