“Neo”, but it IS the same position US foreign policy has had for decades"
Right, there's nothing "neo" about it, that's just a word, "neo-con" that you love, love to throw around, with no idea what it means, but makes you feeeeeeel sooooo virtuous to say, right?
ReaganGeneration2: "And for all that manipulation of other nations, all that intervention, all that paranoia about “preventative” war, all that defense contractor money, all the deaths of our best men (see Vietnam especially) - where are we?
At peace?
No. We’re on the brink of annihilation."
We've been "on the brink of annihilation" since before I was born, after WWII.
That's nothing new.
When Pres. Reagan negotiated the end of the Cold War, all they really did was announce peace and destroy some of their older obsolete WMD -- weapons of mass destruction.
Both sides kept all their newest & best stuff, ready to use at a moment's notice, if necessary.
Occasionally leaders publicly remind us that their WMDs are still there.
That's all that's happening now.
ReaganGeneration2: "Admit the overreach and move on.
If not, okay, agree-to-disagree.
We had good intentions."
What "overreach" are you talking about? Putin's overreach invading Ukraine?
US, EU & many other countries are providing military, financial & humanitarian aid to Ukraine -- is that your "overreach"?
Countries in blue provide military aid to Ukraine:
Countries in blue below provide economic, financial or humanitarian aid to Ukraine:
ReaganGeneration2: "But arguing with people about spending money on prevention to save money is no longer needed.
There is no money to spend.
Again, we’re BROKE. "
Naw... we're far from "broke".
We certainly are spending untold trillions on insane Democrat virtue-signaling, vote buying schemes.
As soon as all of that ends there'll be plenty of money for a robust national defense.
Here is an out-of-date chart showing what we've spent on national defense.
Notice that under Pres. Reagan, defense spending was just under 6% of GDP, then fell to 2.7% under Clinton, rose to 4.5% at the peak of WOT, fell back to less than 3% under Obama, rose to 3.1% (actually 3.4% iirc) under Trump and is now again headed for 2.7%.
The US could easily afford 4% on defense spending if we simply eliminate the most egregious of Democrat vote-buying schemes.
ReaganGeneration2: "The reserve currency status propped up by all that saber-rattling is fake and about to collapse and turn into a Programmable-Currency nightmare."
I certainly agree we are in a mess that will take both skill and time to work out of.
But the fact remains that no nation on earth is in materially better condition than we are, or soon enough could be, once we've put our financial house back in order.
ReaganGeneration2: "There’s no real money to spend on a single base, ship, or CIA outpost outside North America anymore.
We will barely have enough tax receipts for social security obligations and interest on the debt and homeland defense.
No overseas interventions, very little social welfare, no NASA, no FDA, no EPA, nothing else."
All that is total lies -- there's plenty of money for national defense, once we stop squandering trillions on Democrat vote-buying schemes.
That's a fact.
It's also a fact that peace is always cheaper than war, and war is the result of perceived military weakness.
That's what happened in December 1941 and in February 2022.