Very well stated. I completely agree.
I certainly wish the world were like Rand and his father imagine. It clearly is not.
Even Jefferson constituted the marines to attack the Muslim pirate base when this nation was relatively unknown.
In the 21st world, America has a a massive target on its back and any idea of ignoring violent extremist movements is a fools errand. We don’t have to take over every corner of the world as Paul straw mans but we must be continually engaged at undermining these groups with all of our means covert, economic, collaboration, reconnaissance and yes military.
No empire in human history has been better positioned to pull this off than America. It can be done. The Nazis lost, the Japanese lost, the Korean radical tied us. America is strong enough to defeat her enemies but the public must not be deceived about how we are “losing” when we are not.
North Korea, China (ground forces) and the Soviet Union (air forces) were trying to take the whole peninsula, we were defending South Korea.
We won, we defended South Korea. They lost, they failed to take over South Korea. At no point did the US/UN attempt to take over North Korea as far as I know.