re: #52 Decatur Deb

Nah. Every generation or three, we actually need the world’s most powerful military.

Which is rather why, for much of the nation’s history, we had no standing army. The initial worry over a standing army was partially justified, as having one leads governments to view one as a tool of diplomacy, rather than as a last resort. The threat of war has become virtually a given now when the US takes interest in a region.