This year the plot of 24 has America with a female president, determined to intervene in a civil war in Africa to "stop a genocide of thousands". Problem is that the African general who she is planning to attack has kidnapped the designer of the computer firewall protecting America's most sensitive infrastructure controls (air traffic control, water supplies, chemicals, etc), and has gotten the computer guy to create a device to penetrate the firewall. The African general first demonstrates what the device can do with a near miss of two US commercial jets. Meanwhile the female US President is still insisting that "protecting the potential genocide victims in Africa" is more important than protecting America, and she isn't backing down -- even after he actually crashes two US jets in visual range of the White House and he attempts a release of deadly chemicals into the air over a town Kansas.
The point is that this US president character sees her role as "ruling the world", not because she is a megalomaniac, but because that's what the US presidency is to her and to most Americans, right now. She was willing to sacrifice American lives in order to save Africans, just to make her point! I sat there thinking, "Who elected you? Who are you responsible to? Americans, not Africans! You should get assassinated!"
This scenario is not that far-fetched. When Congress and the President see themselves as "rulers of the world" instead of as "stewards of America", Americans are not "safer". Quite the opposite, we are less safe.
I have enjoyed reading your posts on this thread.