How long can we sustain this warped system?
We study history to supposedly learn from the past, but it seems we have yet to learn the clear lesson that all empires before ours have failed when they became too confident in their ability to dictate and dominate, as they overextended their boundaries. When we overestimate our strength and underestimate the opponent”s strength, defeat is sure to follow.
From Alexander the Great, to the Romans, to the Spanish and most recently Great Britain, Germany and Japan; each empire failed when they overreached. At first the bounty from conquest was a windfall, but at a certain point, each one began to expend more money and blood than they gained in return, as they had to defend more land at greater distances, against more people. Eventually the costs brought those empires tumbling down and they faded into just another chapter in history.
This country has been in a perpetual state of war since 1941, with the possible exception of a few years from 1946-9. In 1950 we found ourselves in Korea; the Cold War lasted from then until 1989, when the Soviet empire collapsed due to bankruptcy. We were bankrupt too, but had good credit, so no one paid attention. The national debt, which was about one-half trillion dollars when Reagan took office, was nearly $5 trillion when he left. A tenfold increase in debt, but for some reason we only care about the deficit when a Democrat
