VDH: The U.S. in Retreat

Writing for National Review Online, Victor Davis Hanson takes a long, gloomy look at how the U.S. now refuses to maintain the Pax Americana that characterized international relations the post-World War Two era. I presume this makes VDH a classic neocon.

If the U.S. is either spiritually or fiscally incapable of exercising its old leadership, others will step into the vacuum. The result will not be an agreed-upon international order, but one of regional hegemons.

When the tired federal marshal is three days’ ride away, the owners of the local big spreads will decide what is and is not the law — and the vulnerable homesteaders will have to make the necessary adjustments. 

I particularly like this concluding old west metaphor. It sounds like the plot of Chisum, starring John Wayne and Forrest Tucker as the big spread owners.