THE GREAT AWAKENING (CHOKE) – AT 9:09 A.M. ET:   Many foreign nations are like spoiled teenagers.  The more we do for them, the more they abuse us and show their ingratitude.  Now that we may be pulling back, they're starting to worry about their meal tickets...and defense tickets.  From Max Boot at Contentions:

I have to admit I chuckled while reading Philip Stephens’s op-ed in the Friday Financial Times on “The dangers of American retreat.” Now they tell us.

After spending years complaining about the overweening arrogance and unilateralism of the “hyperpower,” Europeans are now fretting that we are a crippled giant that will no longer be willing to defend them–something they are unwilling, indeed unable, to do for themselves because of the enormous costs of their welfare states. As Stephens notes, even “the emerging powers”–the likes of India, Brazil, Turkey and China–”have prospered from the security and opportunity afforded by U.S. oversight of a rules-based system. They are not yet ready to shoulder the burden. A Hobbesian world will be uncomfortable for the rising and the risen alike. Some – think of India, Vietnam or Indonesia– already see the U.S. as a balancing force.”

Should we send them thank-you notes, or what?

Glad the Europeans are now discovering the benefits of American hegemony–just when it appears to be endangered by a combination of fiscal short-sightedness and lack of political will in Washington. Luckily, the fundamentals of American power–whether demographic or economic–remain sound. There is no reason why we have to retreat and decline–and I see little desire among the American public to accept a secondary role in the world.

COMMENT:  I certainly hope Max Boot is right.  But he goes on to warn that the American role can come crashing down if, as some in Washington threaten, the defense budget is irresponsibly slashed.  The left wing of the Democratic Party is eager to slash it, and will be eager to slash it still more.  They believe we're a force for evil.  And, sadly, som green-eyeshade Republicans, nostalgic for simpler times, seem ready to go along with drastic defense cuts to prevent any tax increases. 

This country's future survival, and its influence, will depend heavily on the state of its defenses.  I deeply fear that there are some in Washington who do not accept that premise, and they have powerful support in journalism and the academy.  The next year will shape our budgetary future for as much as a decade.  We can be responsible, or slide into the European mentality, which many in this administration worship.  It may be a close call.

September 12, 2011