Excellent essay Robert. I believe that the US should provide instructional assistance to other nations to defend themselves. The US doesn't need to be the world's policeman. China does pose an imminent threat in the pacific but the developed Asian nations should stop being frightened of China and develope their strong navies. I read an article on Smart News that Australia has become very concerned about China's activity in its region of the Pacific. So, it would seem to me that they should step up and build a Navy to challenge China's. The government should stop sending foreign aid the countries that have questionable government practices. The Pentagon should stop building supercarriers because of the new hypersonic missles the China ansd Russia are deploying.

Thank you so much puzzlelady. I always appreciate your take on things and your comments.

Splendid summary of reality, Straightline. Scary as hell. Yes, illusion of control, and illusion of U.S. virtue. The arms race is contagious insanity.

Must protect the petrodollar

I would argue, self government is not a sham, but ours is. True self government is the only way,

Put me in the agree camp as well.

Agree.

There are daily sermons in Europe about the "declining power of the US", and the imminent collapse of the country.

They have been saying that for decades, comparing the "US Empire" to that of the Roman and its collapse.

The fact is it is all imaginative. If the US has problems, so do the entire world, including all the major economies. No one can miss the news on the slowing Chinese economy or the colossal chaos the EU is in, due to problems created mostly by them.

If you will, it is a global phenomenon.

The more globalists push their corrosive agenda the more chaotic the world will become.

Among that disorder the US is still the one having the means to persevere and fight the globalist message. Thanks a great extent to the presidency of Trump. We would be in much worse shape had Clinton been elected who would have assured the continuation of Obama's destructive policies.

The will of the people has nothing to do with the line or the goals. They are set by elitists foreign and domestic seeking power and wealth for themselves and destroying the competition foreign or domestic. Everything being done by the federal government is unconstitutional at its heart. We, the people, have no voice whatsoever in the policies of the federal government nor in the implementation thereof. Self government is a sham. It is a state of barely concealed feudalism.

The US line is whatever the US wants that country to do: open up the country to US companies, vote the proper way in international forums, join coalitions of the willing, etc.

"It stymies one of the US’s main geopolitical objectives—forcing smaller countries to toe the US line. "
What is the "US line", and who defines the goals of the "US line"?