Posted by Bob's World

Today it is America clinging to obsolete positions, and it is America that expends its waning (relative) strength in the process.
Some are, but it seems most of our national policy statements address the significant strategic level geopolitical changes taking place beneath our feet, but perhaps they fail in describing how we should adapt to them? The author of the article that starting this thread pushed for a U.S. military capability to conduct "population-centric" COIN, which in my view equates to your comment:

Appreciate that values are rooted in history and culture, and that while the US history an culture is not evil, to push the values born of it too aggressively onto others certainly is.
Of course we can't see past ourselves so we don't understand why there are so many strong antibodies against us pushing our values. Yet when the communists, many of them sincere in their belief they had the best system, pushed and often imposed their system upon others we clearly saw that as an evil that needed to be fought.

What are the existential threats to the US today and into the foreseeable future?? By and large, these are not military problems. We need to reframe how we see ourselves and how we see the world. We need to stop resisting the resistance, and decide once again to compete.
There is some truth to this, and I think that is the way we're drifting towards. OEF-A and OIF were aberrations that took off this path (at least the way we conducted them), which is why I'm strongly opposed to transforming the military to fight these types of wars. The return on investment is negative to the extreme.

But first we must tone down the ideological mantra that shapes our current policies and that hinders the ability of US citizens, companies, as well as our official policies, to compete effectively in the current environment.
What ideological policies prevent us from competing at the business level? The only one I can think of is our outdated policy concerning Cuba. The ban on doing business with Iran is not ideological, but defensive in nature. There are a number of ideological policies that prevent us from competing effectively for influence at the government level.

We are in a confused place as a nation. Just listening to the rhetoric of the current Presidential contest gives clear evidence of that. One candidate calling for a doubling down on the perceived successful approaches of a past that no longer exists, while the other recognizes change must happen, but has yet to map out for anyone what our approach to that might actually look like. In the mean time we rely heavily on CT, sanctions and excessive military postures to attempt to slow the change until we figure things out.
Generally agree, but this also ties into Surferbeetle's comment on creative destruction. We are a strong and resilient nation, and in some ways that can be negative because most realize we need to change, but because we're so strong we don't have to change. It may come down to either a soft landing (if we effectively get in front of the needed change and direct it), or a hard landing if wait until the current system fails.