I sensed in reading the transcript of the interview that he was a troubled intellectual. The losses he suffered must have played into his political philosophy. Then there is the environment at Boston College.
Some of what he says is factual. We are too indulgent, too consumer oriented, our government istaking the shape of an empire. The American people need to know this. These things being said, however require context. We have a near total failure of leadership in terms of academics, politics and morality. This, I believe is the legacy of the "60's. The student radicals, draft dodgers and the like have matriculated into professorships, positions of power in politics and government.
Where are we now? Our "elite" class eschews military service and goes to the highest bidder, lock, stock and soul. "Joe six-pack," the guy who just wants to go to work, feed his kids and pay his bills has given up all hope of making any gains.
We need to hear at what Col. Bacevich has to say, to take into account his suffering and to filter it through our moral values and come up with a renewed nation under God, with citizens who are engaged, who are willing to sacrifice for a cause greater than themselves, to understand that while we cannot save the world from itself, we can save ourselves by being the people God would have us be.
I agree with everything you say except for the notion that America is an Imprerialist power. I think that we are nothing of the sort. We have withdrawn from every conquest we have ever made from 1865 to the present day. Where we remain, we remain at the invitation of the soverign power and on conditions that they have laid down. We are, and have been since our earliest days, a trading power. When we use force, we use it to impose conditions of free trade and commerce. From this we have become the most powerful and most wealthly nation on Earth. Why would we wish to be imperialist - it just doesn’t pay.