They love to say America has the strongest military of any nation ever. But boasting usually leads to disaster. On this show, we hear from William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel of the US Air Force and professor of history at the Air Force Academy and the Naval postgraduate school. His essay is entitled “From the Arsenal of Democracy to an Arsenal of Genocide; The Pernicious Price of Global Reach, Global Power, and Global Dominance.” Our overreaction to 9/11, projecting power across the globe, has brought no victories and less freedom at home: the so-called Patriot Act and the surveillance state. He wonders if their can be a soft landing or if a collapse is in the cards. What a price we pay.