The United States is an empire.
All empires go through a lifecycle of rise and then decline.
The United States is in decline.
The decline can go a number of different ways, but expending energy trying to recapture "Golden Years" (that are more myth than reality) or continuing to expand or retain the empire during a decline will only worsen the impact of the decline.
The United States is the last global superpower.
In the future, there will be no more superpowers, but rather a plurality of players on the field. Some will be nations, some will be global corporate conglomerates, some will be non-governmental, some will be super-governmental, and unfortunately some will be criminal or activist or terrorist. The interconnection of global commerce, information, and telecommunications makes everyone, especially wealthy nations, vulnerable. The proliferation of weapons, particularly WMD and advanced weapons, reduces the advantages of powerful nations. And asymmetric threats are more challenging for large, conservative militaries to adapt to.
The United States is stuck in this thinking that we are the sole leader and beacon of light for the rest of the world to follow. Unfortunately, we are actually behind in many benchmark areas like health, education, debt to income, quality of life, and happiness. This makes it difficult to lead by example. And especially in recent years, we have damaged many of our alliances with historical partners.
The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and other nations of so-called "emerging economies" are rising in power. They might not ever meet the United State's dominance, at least individually, and at least for a long time. But as the power differentials shift more from some nations to others, it is time for the United States to seriously reflect about who we are and want to be.
To determine where you want to go, you must first accept where you are. Then you must accept what is feasible to accomplish.
We are an empire in decline. We will not be the last global superpower forever.
We should accept the fact that we are moving into an era with no superpowers, but rather many players. If we can accept this, then it would be wise to consider spending much less money on our military, especially our military overseas, and more on our education, health, welfare, and quality of life.
We should also reconsider our alliances, both old and new. In doing so, it will not be necessary to pit good-guys versus bad-guys, ala NATO versus Warsaw Pact. Rather, it would be best to strengthen any and all partnerships when advantageous, and create opportunities when there are none.
I must admit I have had many criticisms of President Trump. And while I would not have approached the situation this way (not that I'm qualified), and while I also question his motives, I do at least appreciate the fact that he was able to reach out to Russia and North Korea in fresh ways. We don't want to give away more than we have to, whether that is intangible political capital or tangible economic bottom lines in trade deals. But creating as many alliances as possible, as strong as possible, will be our best future.
In this regard, I believe in adapting the Hippocratic oath to "first, make no enemies". Push back only as necessary. And be fair. As an example of these, perhaps we should strive to make amends with Iran and North Korea, as best as possible anyway, and help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from both sides, not just the Israeli point of view.
I don't know if it's worth the disruption, but if it were possible to redraw some boundaries more according to traditional ethnic or tribal or geographic boundaries, we may be able to prevent in the future some of the conflicts that colonialism has caused by creating senseless, artificial boundaries. Unfortunately, that's a lot of work and negotiation to get there.
Lastly, I see China as one of our best potential partners going forward. There is so much suspicion on both sides that it will take much to create trust. Perhaps it will take a long time for a partnership to formulate, but it's worth attempting. From a game theory perspective, neither nation would want to let their guard down to be taken advantage of by the other, and both sides have issues that the other would want to see resolved going forward, but a partnership would clearly benefit both.
Like plate tectonics fusing together, the whole world would benefit by weaving together a tapestry of alliances, slowly moving toward a unified peace on Earth without losing national sovereignty.
This does not make me unpatriotic. On the contrary, it makes me patriotic for both the United States by seeing what I believe is our best long-term strategy, and patriotic for humanity as a whole, which is a greater spiritual connection than national.
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