An Empire or Not?

So, the US has sent 200 Marines to Guatemala. So, US arms sales total 78% of global arms sales. So, we have drones in all sorts of unlikely places in addition to Afghanistan and Pakistan--like Australia!

We spend $902 billion a year on so-called 'Defense,' and yet we've effectively lost every major war we've embarked upon after Korea in the 1950's.

Who 'won' in Vietnam? Who 'won' in Iraq? Who's bound to be at least a major party in the government of Afghanistan when we leave? Did you guess the Taliban? We didn't even win in Korea; we fought to a draw, and as a consequence, North Korea is a "rogue nation" that's still very much around. And "our man in Iraq," Nuri el Maliki, Iraq's PM, is tentatively neutral, but actually supportive of Iran vs the US, possibly because of his Shiite connections.

And yet, the US is involved militarily almost everywhere in the world. When a problem erupts, like the Syrian civil war, the first instinct of many Americans is to send in US troops, or air power, or sea power. Progressive hawks (there are many among Democrats) are often even ahead of the GOP, as witness those Marines in Guatemala. They're hunting drug cartels, an example of how we militarize police problems.

At the moment, an "armada" has been assembled in the Persian Gulf, led by the US, of course, but also including the UK and probably some of our Arab "allies." The assembly of the 'armada' could be relatively quiet, apparently, but it has been brought together to confront an enemy that often defies international laws and treaties.

Why? An article I refused to read in the Economist asserted in the first sentence that the US would have to step up vis a vis Syria, because it was supposed to 'police' the world.

Why is our Nobel Peace Prize President, Obama, overseeing so many acts of war all around the globe?

Why do Americans consent to pay such huge defense bills ($902 billions in 2012)? Over 58% of defense money spent by the top ten military powers in the world is spent by the US. And our military complain when China increases its budget!

Defense spending employs relatively few for the money it pays out--war Keynesianism is notoriously inefficient, yet Romney wants to increase spending (to 4% of GDP), possibly because he has no use for diplomacy. He was recently discovered saying on an outrageous video that there was no possibility for an Israeli-Palestine peace agreement, because "the Palestinians don't want peace."

It took Rome a couple centuries to discover it couldn't maintain pax Romanum over the 'known world.' How long before the US exhausts itself in a similar effort? I give us less than 20 years; the explosions over all the Muslim world inspired by a stupid video are only another sign: the US cannot police the world, and shouldn't try.