This is something I've never understood, maybe you can help me. What benefit does a person living in the US gain from having any of their soldiers outside their border? I'm not just talking about the adventures in the Middle East the US has been dabbling in this century, there are also 800 US foreign military bases or installations spread across the globe. (The rest of the world's nations have a combined total of about 30.) But what exactly do we get out of this planet-spanning military sprawl thing that we've clearly got going on?
The only reason I can remember running across in the past was to protect foreign trade and "American interests." But I don't understand why foreign trade is necessary to the continued health and wellbeing of the people living in the enormous, resource-rich, barely occupied landmass known as the USA. Obviously there are some people who make a living off of foreign trade, and most of us benefit by it to some degree, but I don't see how it should be regarded by the nation as a whole as anything other than a luxury. A luxury that can be engaged in by those willing to take the increased risk of operation abroad without the comfort of knowing that the US military can put uniforms on the scene anywhere on the planet faster than the local police can anywhere in Detroit.
Anyway, yeah. Don't get it. Help me out here.
Then look at facts. Google our imports list and cross-check the first few dozen goods on it with a list of items produced within the 50 states. Run the math, figure out what we would have to do without if we cut off all foreign trade. Don't make someone else do legwork you are fully capable of doing yourself. That said, I'll shove you in the right direction: how many cups of coffee did you drink this week?But I don't understand why foreign trade is necessary to the continued health and wellbeing of the people living in the enormous, resource-rich, barely occupied landmass known as the USA.
For better or worse, globalization has greatly increased the necessity of interdependence. I definitely do not support the "planet-spanning military sprawl" and find American foreign policy immensely upsetting. That being said isolation from the rest of the world in the modern age is no longer an economically or logically feasible course of action, we truly are living in a global economy. Unfortunately most of this incredible international trade network is used for consumer goods rather than humanitarian ends, but ah well I guess its a little much to ask of people to be nice to each other and collectively work for the common good. Thankfully this global market is increasingly bringing cultures together and that combined with the power of the internet may one day lead to a global society based on mutual benefit rather than personal gain. But on the other hand Christian radical extremism is apparently a super popular ideology amongst the super rich who benefit most from our exploitative consumer market, or maybe those assholes are just pretending to be racist extremists to get votes, I don't know which is better. Sorry if I'm going off topic and ranting rather than giving a good answer but America's really been making me sad lately. I saw An American Carol last night and thought at first that it was mocking American culture, but then my friend informed me that it was made seriously, if you ever want to feel so upset at the world that you cant even default into the usual mocking nihilism of the internet era then i highly recommend giving it a watch, just have drugs and alcohol on hand to ease the pain...