America in war

[gemen]

Did you know that 20% of the time we have been a nation the United States has been at war.

[Ken White]

What's your point?

[Bob's World]

Actually the percentage is much higher if one considers the full time spent in combat with non-state actors. The combat waged for 50 years in Texas against the Comanches (as just one example) was far more brutal and persistent than anything over the past 10 years with AQ.

One does not become, or remain, the most powerful nation on the planet without being ready, willing and able to contend with those who will naturally rise to contest such growth or sustainment of power. In a zero-sum game of a closed ecosystem such as planet Earth, one's gain almost inevitably comes at another's expense.

I'd contend that our time at war is actually much lower than 20%; a luxury of our possession and occupation of the most key terrain on the planet and our willingness to commit to combat operations at a rate much higher than 20%.