Leithart summarizes George Friedman’s view of American Militarism:
Once we dominated North America, we have to guard ourselves against possible rivals and enemies in the Southern hemisphere; hence the Monroe Doctrine and our meddling in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Having stretched from sea to sea, we had to secure our coasts from invasion,eventually stretching our power as far as Alaska and Hawaii to prevent attack from the West. We now control the oceans to a degree unprecedented in human history, and we have to protect our hegemony against the rise of other global naval powers.
Fearful isolation, combined with power, thus breeds interventionism. Our desire to live in security breeds militarism.
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