Pascal:

One of the reasons why our federal government exists in the first place is because of our need for common defense. And if our problems in North America weren’t bad enough, several Muslim states declared war on the USA in the 1780′s, demanding higher and higher tribute. I sometimes wonder if the Whiskey Rebellion was partly a protest against not only exorbitant taxation, but also the fact that much of the money was sent to line the pockets of the despots of Barbary States.

We live in a world where the Barbary States and their ilk exist. Thus, we need some means to keep these raiders from carrying off American children to turn them into janissaries and harem girls. The federal government and its constellation of military bases may not be perfect, but a strong military is a vast improvement over getting oppressed by Islamist gangsters.

If the United States never had any imperialistic tendencies, the USA’s western border would be on the eastern edge of the Mississippi. If that. I suppose that certain hyper-libertarian ideologues would insist that the United States should never have expanded into the Louisiana Purchase. I oppose those who would seek to break up the United States of America.