America’s Prosperity Depends On Its Foreign Military Engagements

From America’s first military operation as an independent polity to its military operations today, the American Armed Forces have always fought to procure and protect American prosperity. The operation to tamp down the excessive exuberance of the Barbary Coast Corsairs in the 1780s is no different from Operation Iraqi Freedom in the 2000s. Both were meant to guarantee America’s access to global trade and strategic resources. In the aftermath of WWII, America made a deal with the rest of the world in which it undertook to keep the world open for trade and, in exchange, procured for its currency the dollar the exalted status of world reserve currency and the flexibility to operate substantially outside of the typical fiscal constraints that apply to other nations. America’s unparalleled prosperity today rests upon this foundation. By calling every skirmish a war and by glorifying the avoidance of such military actions, the MAGA movement shows a lack of understanding of both geopolitics and economics. It is jeopardizing the living standard of every American.  Image: Reuters