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Perhaps, but I'm wondering if it might not be a good idea to go for an empire for a bit.

I'm opposed to that. We should be strong enough to ensure that threats never even approach our shores. The smart way is to play other countries off against one another, so that they are too distracted or exhausted to bother us. We should minimize the need for our troops to be present wherever possible, both to save blood/treasure and to avoid having other nations view us as "the enemy."

Again, if we can avoid it, do so. But I am not sure that is possible. We may need to either have a strong presence in those places for decades, or we need to occupy them, and show the people there the better path.

It's really a choice between Buchanan and Churchill. I think Churchill's approach is far better.

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."