This whole “peace through strength” thing is crap.

The Cold War was just a giant string of proxy conflicts where US and Soviet allies were prodded into collision, then the situation was escalated by the two superpowers showering money and ordinance on their respective “teams.”

In fact, accumulation of military forces…both troops and ordinance…has never been a stand-alone method of creating either internal or trans-national stability. Display of that force—bloody lessons—have always been hand-in-glove with the former. And not just once, and not “surgical strikes” against offenders. There is no “shock and awe” magic that completely cows your opponents…or your subject populations…in a single, deterministic blow. From Rome to the British Empire, the formula has remained the continuous exercise of the option of state-sponsored retaliatory violence.

Mitt’s trying to sell us the velvet glove and pretend the iron fist ain’t no thing.