Well said. Pat’s commitment to isolationism blinds him to anything that doesn’t support his theory that often turns in to “it’s America’s fault.” Arab soil may be sacred to him, but it’s also the soil that spawns hate regardless of the USA or Israel, points I am positive he’d rejected. He’s really the last of the great appeasers.
Not only does the world use the dollar as its trade and reserve currency, but it also invests those dollars in US Treasuries and thereby finances our federal debt. The world thus covers, among millions of other Americans, the Medicare and Social Security costs of my parents in retirement because, like cops ready to deploy, there are US army brigades, strike aircraft, and carrier task forces watching and on call to keep the peace and protect US friends and allies.
And it should not be forgotten that the US is also leading the scientific and technical revolution that drives modernity. Although it seems almost like science fiction, within a generation or two, the US and the developed world may bring to reality the start of a future of astonishing material ease and abundance, with minimal work required, and the conquest of disease and dramatically improved longevity.
What is there not to like in such a future, where the US federal debt will be a bearable trifle and most urban areas in the world look like US cities, with Americans near universally welcome?