Andrew Sullivan:
Michael Cohen and Micah Zenko want us to understand we've never lived in a safer world:
The world that the United States inhabits today is a remarkably safe and secure place. It is a world with fewer violent conflicts and greater political freedom than at virtually any other point in human history. All over the world, people enjoy longer life expectancy and greater economic opportunity than ever before. The United States faces no plausible existential threats, no great-power rival, and no near-term competition for the role of global hegemon. The U.S. military is the world’s most powerful, and even in the middle of a sustained downturn, the U.S. economy remains among one of the world’s most vibrant and adaptive. Although the United States faces a host of international challenges, they pose little risk to the overwhelming majority of American citizens and can be managed with existing diplomatic, economic, and, to a much lesser extent, military tools.
I don't think this can be overemphasized. We can rain bombs on any country we want to. Nobody can just rain bombs on us. How many innocent Iraqis and Afghans have been accidentally or otherwise killed by American aggression in their own country in the past five years? How many Americans have been killed by foreigners in our country? The battlefield is so asymmetrical it is insane. And yet, Americans get scared by every tin pot brown skinned Muslim who talks bad about us. I don't get it. Why would some 70 year-old in Kansas be afraid of terrorists or losers in Iran?
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