[Fasces]

I imagine that if you attempt to reach any position of power or influence, all the "bitching" you did in the office or social media starts matter.

I'm not against keeping the oligarchs accountable. Police and civil servants get to enjoy special rights, at the cost of increased standards, right? Why not the rich?

[Tainari88]

Eh, I'd love to think that, but seeing how decimated black militia groups are compared to white ones...

One good thing about China - it's an equal opportunity opressor.

@wat0n never was active in Puerto Rican liberation movements. My mother was. She was tailed, photographed, blackballed, and she died of cancer caused by uranium depletion via protesting the contamination of beaches. All of the protestors got the same cancer. All of the protesters were unarmed, and none were terrorists. None. They got arrested. Even the senator in Puerto Rico for the Independence Party.

The FBI admitted freely that they persecuted Puerto Ricans that were not terrorists in order to quell their freedom of speech and protest. The reason they gave? Make sure they have no freedom to limit them so they don't influence the rest of the Puerto Ricans.

The FBI admitted that through Jose Serrano the congressman from NY on Democracy now.

@wat0n keeps thinking Black Panthers, Puerto Rican Independence Groups, Native American rights organizations, etc are the same treatment as KKK, white racist supremacy assholes. No, they are treated differently. White Nationalist movements are tolerated and in some states encouraged and protected. The USA loves far right racists. It is a terribly skewed nation. That is why Dulles as @jimjam stated with his Nazi tactics and J. Edgar Hoover with his fanatical hatred of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and Angela Davis treated them with a lot of surveillance and even violent opposition and the fascist racists in the Deep South like Wallace and others? Strom Thurmond and his ilk get away with their far Right terrorism. The government officials deep within the USA intelligence community are liberals and conservatives but both sides are deep in their political makeup repressive fascists in tactics. RIGHTISTS.

@wat0n mostly believe in fairy tales about what the USA government is. My main dislike of his politics is his naive belief that the USA machine is somehow loving liberty for all. No, liberty for the right and the racist right and the capitalist loving for profit power hungry wealthy plutocrats. Everyone else they will investigate, prosecute and arrest, torture, throw the Patriot Act on hold without bond or bail and basically disappear and screw over. You got to be a really really bad white racist cabron for them to put you in a supermax prison. McVeigh, and a couple of others. The Black activists who did not even do a single murder of anyone get thrown in jail for years over nothing. The ones who don't believe that should have seen that documentary semi movie "The Chicago 7" the treatment Bobby Seal got versus the white agitators is stark.

The system in the USA is not equal opportunity at all. It is against certain groups.

I don't give a damn what excuses @wat0n comes up with. Go to Puerto Rico and talk to the ones who are part of a nationalist party there, a socialist party there, or even los hostosianos, and others? Ask them what happens to UNARMED and non terrorist dissidents with the FBI?

The USA uses violence all the time in Latin America. Almost exclusively against Leftists. He should be asking why? But he doesn't because he stubbornly wants to believe in some fairy tale version of the USA government. I think because he doesn't want to rock the boat and get his visa for permanent resident and be a conformist.

I will never like that of course. Why go along with a government in which other Latin American people trying to bring freedom to their people and getting screwed over by a gov't you want to protect for selfish reasons? I never like that and I never will.

[wat0n]

@Tainari88 it's funny how you reinforce my point by naming organizations that have attempted to fight the US government, leaving out your pretense that when far-right and white nationalists attempted to do the same they weren't hunted just the same by the feds. It's easy to see that by actually see what happened to those who participated in the Oklahoma City bombing for example. I mean, I know you like trumpists have problems with facts but isn't that just too much?

[Fasces]

What leftist group has killed as many as the Oklahoma City Bombings? Are counter-"terrorism" efforts equitable?

[wat0n]

What leftist group has killed as many as the Oklahoma City Bombings? Are counter-"terrorism" efforts equitable?

Not as many, but leftist groups did kill plenty of people in the early 20th century. In fact, their activity is among the things that led to the creation of the FBI itself.

[Pants-of-dog]

Attempts to justify US oppression of leftists by pointing out slightly similar examples of right wingers being arrested is irrelevant to the topic of how China will eventually defeat the USA.

[late]

Not as many, but leftist groups did kill plenty of people in the early 20th century. In fact, their activity is among the things that led to the creation of the FBI itself.

It wasn't the violence that did it, or the Star Chamber would have been interested in both the Left and the Right.

It was the very idea of Left, that the little guy might have a real say in how things were run.

[wat0n]

It wasn't the violence that did it, or the Star Chamber would have been interested in both the Left and the Right.

It was the very idea of Left, that the little guy might have a real say in how things were run.

Yeah, it's not like anarchists were bombing places like Wall Street at the time

Now, back to Taiwan: I doubt China would try to invade it while the US has the island under its protection, just like the US wouldn't invade Cuba once it aligned itself with the Soviets officially. In fact the US/Cuba-China/Taiwan analogy is pretty accurate I think.

[Tainari88]

What leftist group has killed as many as the Oklahoma City Bombings? Are counter-"terrorism" efforts equitable?

McVeigh was a product of the military types who are insane people from the Operation Iraqi Storm stuff. He got used to killing people and was a highly respected soldier. He was extreme right. He was raised by his grandfather and father who were totally racist and hated the government and socialism which they associated with liberalism and the government being against some rugged individualism and fuck society type of people. Very similar to the group called SOVEREIGN. Who hate the idea of taxes. For them each person should be completely self sufficient and a type of anarcho capitalist mentality.

McVeigh was intelligent and very aware of the government hypocrisy and who the elites were in the USA gov't. He was so full of hatred for anything that the federal government did that he targeted the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. He planned the attack carefully along with Nichols and he was a product of the USA. These white far Right militia groups are out there. They are not rounded up and massively prosecuted at the same rate as the Black militia groups. Why? Lol. Figure it out.

Many of the most entrenched members are in the military of the USA, law enforcement, state police, US intelligence services, Republican party membership and many more. These people hide in there.

The Chinese government is influenced by a long tradition of classist civil servants. The law and order prez of the PRC is cracking down on corruption. That is the image.

The PRC doesn't do hypocritical liberal democratic two duopolies. They do one party, authoritarian state capitalism. But? Since they have a growing middle class and more consumer power growing? The vast middle class and lower middle class Chinese citizens as well as the Chinese elites in business and academia don't challenge the PRC and are conformist.

Most average people and citizens only care about if they are doing well economically and if the nation is stable and their kids are going to college. The USA again is cannibalizing their middle classes. They are going to be getting agitation from the disappearing middle classes. In the end? Ideology and spouting about liberal ideals but having no money in the bank doesn't convince the majority of workers who don't much about what socialism or capitalism is. They know what not being able to have a home or a car....is like. They know what being in debt is. They know about being pissed because they hear Spanish on the street or see women with hajibs on their heads and think, "Maybe they are the reason I can't buy a condo." Dumb ass people. They are dangerous too.

Xenophobia is present in many nations.

[wat0n]

McVeigh was a product of the military types who are insane people from the Operation Iraqi Storm stuff. He got used to killing people and was a highly respected soldier. He was extreme right. He was raised by his grandfather and father who were totally racist and hated the government and socialism which they associated with liberalism and the government being against some rugged individualism and fuck society type of people. Very similar to the group called SOVEREIGN. Who hate the idea of taxes. For them each person should be completely self sufficient and a type of anarcho capitalist mentality.

McVeigh was intelligent and very aware of the government hypocrisy and who the elites were in the USA gov't. He was so full of hatred for anything that the federal government did that he targeted the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. He planned the attack carefully along with Nichols and he was a product of the USA. These white far Right militia groups are out there. They are not rounded up and massively prosecuted at the same rate as the Black militia groups. Why? Lol. Figure it out.

Many of the most entrenched members are in the military of the USA, law enforcement, state police, US intelligence services, Republican party membership and many more. These people hide in there.

And so people like McVeigh were hunted and eventually caught, just as any half-functioning government would regardless of who the culprit is.

Treason is also one reason why the US has different levels of security clearance, even though it was initially to protect against Soviet espionage (another difference between the far-left and far-right terrorists is precisely that: The far-rightists didn't have any relevant foreign support as far as I'm aware).

The Chinese government is influenced by a long tradition of classist civil servants. The law and order prez of the PRC is cracking down on corruption. That is the image.

The PRC doesn't do hypocritical liberal democratic two duopolies. They do one party, authoritarian state capitalism. But? Since they have a growing middle class and more consumer power growing? The vast middle class and lower middle class Chinese citizens as well as the Chinese elites in business and academia don't challenge the PRC and are conformist.

Most average people and citizens only care about if they are doing well economically and if the nation is stable and their kids are going to college. The USA again is cannibalizing their middle classes. They are going to be getting agitation from the disappearing middle classes. In the end? Ideology and spouting about liberal ideals but having no money in the bank doesn't convince the majority of workers who don't much about what socialism or capitalism is. They know what not being able to have a home or a car....is like. They know what being in debt is. They know about being pissed because they hear Spanish on the street or see women with hajibs on their heads and think, "Maybe they are the reason I can't buy a condo." Dumb ass people. They are dangerous too.

Xenophobia is present in many nations.

One may wonder then just how long will Chinese growth last. What you mention is the last paragraph is the common behavior of the populace everywhere when the economy runs sour and it's hardly an American thing. When there are few immigrants, like in China, the blame is directed against others.

[Tainari88]

And so people like McVeigh were hunted and eventually caught, just as any half-functioning government would regardless of who the culprit is.

Treason is also one reason why the US has different levels of security clearance, even though it was initially to protect against Soviet espionage (another difference between the far-left and far-right terrorists is precisely that: The far-rightists didn't have any relevant foreign support as far as I'm aware).



One may wonder then just how long will Chinese growth last. What you mention is the last paragraph is the common behavior of the populace everywhere when the economy runs sour and it's hardly an American thing. When there are few immigrants, like in China, the blame is directed against others.

McVeigh was part of the USA military and far right. How treasoneous is a decorated soldier? The man was not a defector or a traitor. He was faithful to his far Right bullshit. No one paid attention to those Far Right groups because they are wrapped in 'patriotic' rhetoric. The Southern Poverty Center has been tracking them for years now Wat0n. They also know that the US government has only recently been infiltrating them. David Duke was a leader for them and held office in Louisiana for a while. You should study the people whom you think you are using as examples. I only deal with known cases of Right-Wing violent behavior but the government used to ignore them completely. For years. Why? Again, being a fascist is a good thing in the USA. That is why you had the orange tan man saying there were good people on both sides in the Charlottesville protests. He knew that the white supremacists were an integral part of Trumpism. His people. The ones who went after Mike Pence and trashed Pelosi's office. Ave Maria. It is obvious which side the Republican party is on. The white racist side is a good thing for them. It always has been. They hold up some token Black man like Herman Caine or Ben Carson or some quasi-intellectual like Michael Steele. But they never mention that the vast amount of African Americans are not in the Republican party. Why? The Democrats were a racist party in the 1920s but it changed. What made it change? Do you know? I wonder about your history of the USA knowledge. Me parece poco.

Each nation has a history and in order to understand its inner dynamics one should study it. The PRC was a product of the old Dynasty and Imperial system. There was a peasant revolution and the old system fought for the right to continue to rule. it collapsed and Kai Shek wound up in Taiwan. Why?

Why would China go for Marxism from a Western-based German Jew like Karl Marx? Why not go for a continuance of Confucious? Why did the Vietnamese fight the French? And then the Americans? Why did Korea split into two? Good questions to answer on why the American USA Navy and so on are interested in keeping these islands in non Chinese PRC hands. Find the answer.

Loving democracy better not be the answer. Lol.

[wat0n]

McVeigh was part of the USA military and far right. How treasoneous is a decorated soldier? The man was not a defector or a traitor. He was faithful to his far Right bullshit. No one paid attention to those Far Right groups because they are wrapped in 'patriotic' rhetoric. The Southern Poverty Center has been tracking them for years now Wat0n. They also know that the US government has only recently been infiltrating them. David Duke was a leader for them and held office in Louisiana for a while. You should study the people whom you think you are using as examples. I only deal with known cases of Right-Wing violent behavior but the government used to ignore them completely. For years. Why? Again, being a fascist is a good thing in the USA. That is why you had the orange tan man saying there were good people on both sides in the Charlottesville protests. He knew that the white supremacists were an integral part of Trumpism. His people. The ones who went after Mike Pence and trashed Pelosi's office. Ave Maria. It is obvious which side the Republican party is on. The white racist side is a good thing for them. It always has been. They hold up some token Black man like Herman Caine or Ben Carson or some quasi-intellectual like Michael Steele. But they never mention that the vast amount of African Americans are not in the Republican party. Why? The Democrats were a racist party in the 1920s but it changed. What made it change? Do you know? I wonder about your history of the USA knowledge. Me parece poco.

Is this a joke? The moment he bombed a Federal building, he became a traitor. That's it.

Each nation has a history and in order to understand its inner dynamics one should study it. The PRC was a product of the old Dynasty and Imperial system. There was a peasant revolution and the old system fought for the right to continue to rule. it collapsed and Kai Shek wound up in Taiwan. Why?

Why would China go for Marxism from a Western-based German Jew like Karl Marx? Why not go for a continuance of Confucious? Why did the Vietnamese fight the French? And then the Americans? Why did Korea split into two? Good questions to answer on why the American USA Navy and so on are interested in keeping these islands in non Chinese PRC hands. Find the answer.

Loving democracy better not be the answer. Lol.

What's your point here?

[Rancid]

Here's a good old fashioned anti-war song.

My brain automatically inserts rifle fire and helicopters when this song plays.

"I can't believe they made a war for this song."
- Wise youtube commenter.

[Tainari88]

Is this a joke? The moment he bombed a Federal building, he became a traitor. That's it.



What's your point here?

Lol. It is going to be a long explaination. I read various books on McVeigh. He is from upstate New York. He joined the military because he believed a load of bullshit, hook, line and sinker.

When he realized how much lying the conservative plutocrats do? He was disillusioned in tge extreme with the system. He was a trained soldier. One thst his superiors thought exemplary. What happened to him?

One should study the reasons for dissent in governments from around the world. The reason for dissent from a fascist government is different than one from a liberal democracy. But? Dissenters become upset with authoritarian and economically powerful nations. Weak governments with corrupt leadership are kind of predictably fearful of organized dissent.

I would study Chinese propaganda techniques, then capitalist propaganda and figure out what the subliminal messages are? They indicate why the gov't is lying.

Be back later to connect the dots for you eh muchacho?

[wat0n]

Lol. It is going to be a long explaination. I read various books on McVeigh. He is from upstate New York. He joined the military because he believed a load of bullshit, hook, line and sinker.

When he realized how much lying the conservative plutocrats do? He was disillusioned in tge extreme with the system. He was a trained soldier. One thst his superiors thought exemplary. What happened to him?

One should study the reasons for dissent in governments from around the world. The reason for dissent from a fascist government is different than one from a liberal democracy. But? Dissenters become upset with authoritarian and economically powerful nations. Weak governments with corrupt leadership are kind of predictably fearful of organized dissent.

I would study Chinese propaganda techniques, then capitalist propaganda and figure out what the subliminal messages are? They indicate why the gov't is lying.

Be back later to connect the dots for you eh muchacho?

I still don't see your point. McVeigh seems to have always been fairly radical, as even other soldiers he was squarely in the far right and would give all the chores to Black soldiers. He seems to have become disillusioned after the Gulf War and especially after failing the test to join the special forces, and Waco did it for him. He wasn't all that obsessed about elites but about the government itself.

[Rugoz]

I'm not against keeping the oligarchs accountable. Police and civil servants get to enjoy special rights, at the cost of increased standards, right? Why not the rich?

Accountable for what? I certainly don't think anybody should be held accountable for "bitching" about the government, regardless of social status.

[Tainari88]

I still don't see your point. McVeigh seems to have always been fairly radical, as even other soldiers he was squarely in the far right and would give all the chores to Black soldiers. He seems to have become disillusioned after the Gulf War and especially after failing the test to join the special forces, and Waco did it for him. He wasn't all that obsessed about elites but about the government itself.

Most far right militia people in the USA are very very anti-government. They believe fully in either an extremely small government or one that only regulates private property and some traffic cops. That is it.

He blamed the elites for not winning over Iraqi hearts and minds in Iraq. He did not understand that if you occupy a nation and destabilize it and it gets so dysfunctional that the water doesn't get to the homes, the electricity doesn't work, no one can go buy food in a market for dinner, the schools are closed, a bunch of collateral damage is done, and then the occupying army is building perfect little reproductions of American style suburbs? While the locals live in chaos and deprivation and the message to the locals is "See? Democracy is what we are about?" And no one believes it? He thought he was going to be a part of a powerful government that will teach the other nations about what true freedom is. How do you teach that without real investment in building up the other society. if you are uncommitted to that? You won't convince anyone of a damn thing. You will piss them off. You topple the dictator but replace him with chaos, poverty, and terror of bombings from the skies and then you allow infighting and civil war to break out to deepen the crisis. No one trusts the Americans. How can you? What have they done for them?

These far-right people don't really understand EMPATHY at all. That is the problem with the far-Right. They lack that chip. They lack the ability to see the humanity in the 'other'. They always have. It is almost a form of sociopathic inability.

What is my point? You better stop with the fairy tale thoughts Wat0n. We are all one species. The USA is not a better society. It is the society that through aggressive and old Imperial tactics built wealth off the problems and sufferings of the many. Within its own nation and without it. By subjugating the other nations. It is not doing anything different from the many other failed ex-Empires in history. You do the same mistakes in human history as the others? You wind up being defunct and ex Empires. Another emerging one takes over.

China has a very, very old and long history. It has been invaded and colonized by Japan and by Great Britain, and they have dealt with Russians and invading killing armies. They have been through many things. The reason they decided to adopt state capitalism is they understood that if they did not get the wealth necessary for nuclear bombs and armies and infrastructure that the other powers like Russia and the USA and the EU would find a way to retake their resources. They now want to lead the world. Will they? That remains to be seen.

The USA never has been through being colonized, invaded by bloodlust fascists like Japan was in WWII (with the exception of Pearl Harbor and that was traumatic for them and they reacted by throwing two nuclear bombs, I really wonder if they will do it again if China tries to expand more?), and during the Opium Wars. Neither does it have Russia's history with the Battle of Stalingrad and Nazi occupation.

What the USA has had? Is being used to invading lands that don't belong to them. Killing off or moving by force the natives off the land and taking it. Letting capitalists make money off of it. And sending in the troops to make sure they keep the stolen shit. They deny votes to Blacks for a long time, they still deny votes to Puerto Ricans, American Samoans, Guamanians and US Virgin Islanders, etc. They claim to be for the average worker when they have actively worked against any interest that furthers the average workers quality of life. They are actually again, unlike the Chinese not creating new middle classes. They are starving them out. Why?

The answer is that they have to continue with the Globalism and the corporate dictatorship. They have to. The politicians in DC live off of those people. They are sold out.

The Chinese know this. And they are using that lack of ethics to encroach with the caution of those old Confucius following Mandarins...the administrators looking for weaknesses in the leader of economic markets and military expenditures. Where is the USA's worst weakness. It is not in amount of bombs present, or ability to mass kill the entire globe, it is not in propaganda (the USA has the best propaganda and brainwashing of its population in the world),---so where is it? In its elite. They are so greedy and so selfish that the USA is for sale and is vulnerable to outside actors because there are no principles in the very top of the government authority. The rot is from the top. That is where the opening is. And they are going for that rot.

Authoritarians never give up their authority merely for cash and selfishness. They value control and authority above greed. They do.

Greed is a poison that if you allow it to be the ultimate measure of success? You lose it all. Because without principles about national interests? You wind up losing the entire thing to others who never compromised that at all.

[wat0n]

Most far right militia people in the USA are very very anti-government. They believe fully in either an extremely small government or one that only regulates private property and some traffic cops. That is it.

Indeed, it's an interesting ideology actually. Elsewhere, these guys prefer big governments.

He blamed the elites for not winning over Iraqi hearts and minds in Iraq. He did not understand that if you occupy a nation and destabilize it and it gets so dysfunctional that the water doesn't get to the homes, the electricity doesn't work, no one can go buy food in a market for dinner, the schools are closed, a bunch of collateral damage is done, and then the occupying army is building perfect little reproductions of American style suburbs? While the locals live in chaos and deprivation and the message to the locals is "See? Democracy is what we are about?" And no one believes it? He thought he was going to be a part of a powerful government that will teach the other nations about what true freedom is. How do you teach that without real investment in building up the other society. if you are uncommitted to that? You won't convince anyone of a damn thing. You will piss them off. You topple the dictator but replace him with chaos, poverty, and terror of bombings from the skies and then you allow infighting and civil war to break out to deepen the crisis. No one trusts the Americans. How can you? What have they done for them?

These far-right people don't really understand EMPATHY at all. That is the problem with the far-Right. They lack that chip. They lack the ability to see the humanity in the 'other'. They always have. It is almost a form of sociopathic inability.

It doesn't seem to me he was concerned about the Iraqis at all. What really did upset him was what he saw as overreach by the US government in places like Waco and the like.

What is my point? You better stop with the fairy tale thoughts Wat0n. We are all one species. The USA is not a better society. It is the society that through aggressive and old Imperial tactics built wealth off the problems and sufferings of the many. Within its own nation and without it. By subjugating the other nations. It is not doing anything different from the many other failed ex-Empires in history. You do the same mistakes in human history as the others? You wind up being defunct and ex Empires. Another emerging one takes over.

I don't think I claimed American society is perfect. What I said is that the living standards are higher than in Latin America, which I would think isn't up to discussion. In some relevant aspects, American society is better than Latin American ones, in others it's the other way around.

China has a very, very old and long history. It has been invaded and colonized by Japan and by Great Britain, and they have dealt with Russians and invading killing armies. They have been through many things. The reason they decided to adopt state capitalism is they understood that if they did not get the wealth necessary for nuclear bombs and armies and infrastructure that the other powers like Russia and the USA and the EU would find a way to retake their resources. They now want to lead the world. Will they? That remains to be seen.

Are you admitting capitalism is an engine for wealth generation?

The USA never has been through being colonized, invaded by bloodlust fascists like Japan was in WWII (with the exception of Pearl Harbor and that was traumatic for them and they reacted by throwing two nuclear bombs, I really wonder if they will do it again if China tries to expand more?), and during the Opium Wars. Neither does it have Russia's history with the Battle of Stalingrad and Nazi occupation.

What the USA has had? Is being used to invading lands that don't belong to them. Killing off or moving by force the natives off the land and taking it. Letting capitalists make money off of it. And sending in the troops to make sure they keep the stolen shit. They deny votes to Blacks for a long time, they still deny votes to Puerto Ricans, American Samoans, Guamanians and US Virgin Islanders, etc. They claim to be for the average worker when they have actively worked against any interest that furthers the average workers quality of life. They are actually again, unlike the Chinese not creating new middle classes. They are starving them out. Why?

The answer is that they have to continue with the Globalism and the corporate dictatorship. They have to. The politicians in DC live off of those people. They are sold out.

As a former colony, I'd say the US has a history of being colonized just fine. The fact that the US was never invaded by the Nazis or the Japanese (or the Soviets) is actually a good thing.

And it's hilarious you blame the US for doing things that each and every American country did back in the day. FWIW indigenous peoples in the US have more autonomy, in the form of Tribal jurisdictions, than in most other countries in the continent.

The Chinese know this. And they are using that lack of ethics to encroach with the caution of those old Confucius following Mandarins...the administrators looking for weaknesses in the leader of economic markets and military expenditures. Where is the USA's worst weakness. It is not in amount of bombs present, or ability to mass kill the entire globe, it is not in propaganda (the USA has the best propaganda and brainwashing of its population in the world),---so where is it? In its elite. They are so greedy and so selfish that the USA is for sale and is vulnerable to outside actors because there are no principles in the very top of the government authority. The rot is from the top. That is where the opening is. And they are going for that rot.

Authoritarians never give up their authority merely for cash and selfishness. They value control and authority above greed. They do.

Greed is a poison that if you allow it to be the ultimate measure of success? You lose it all. Because without principles about national interests? You wind up losing the entire thing to others who never compromised that at all.

Am I to assume China is a super ethical society with no greedy elites at all? Seriously?

[Wulfschilde]

I think it's worth noting that China is unlikely to attack Taiwan in a vacuum. If/when they do it, it would happen when Russia is also attacking Ukraine, Iran is attacking Israel and probably some other things to go along with it.

It would also only happen after the US currency loses its reserve status, which it is well on its way to doing under Jiao Xiden. Inflation recently "beat estimates" by being only 3.6%. Depending on your source, the average American household income is down 11% to 16%. So what this means in total is that most Americans are 15% to 20% poorer than they were a year ago during the height of this pandemic, with no end in sight if Dems achieve their goal of doubling the national debt every few years.

Once America's economic clout is gone, the military cloud will probably follow.