It is my belief that the US must maintain itself as the dominant military power in the world.  I mean, beyond a “muscular foreign policy”.  I think it should not just be strong but a threatening power.  Yes, to the rivals, of course.  These aren’t just rivals, but sometimes enemies and certainly are enemies of a world order that the free world takes for granted. 

But the US should also be a bit feared by its allies.  That the US will not tolerate their dalliances with their enemies and become dependent on them for some short term welfare.  That they need to shape up in their own strength so that they be themselves a deterrent and also be actual allies to each other instead of just expecting to run crying to the US in times of crisis while in non-crises times laughing at the US for being a gun-obsessed, war minded country to which the idea of focusing on welfare had simply not occurred.

This is distinct from the “earning the respect of our allies” that the some liberals often talk about.  This “leadership” involves following the Europeans on the climate agenda and whatever else they want to do collectively.  Most of them, welfare expansions that work for them while they enjoy the American security umbrella.  Those agendas simply view the US as a big pot of wealth that ought to make big monetary contributions to all the saintly causes or risk being judged by the Europeans. No, thanks.  The US doesn’t need the approval of Europeans and the label of virtuous.  It leads the world in charity and some other good deeds already, whether the Europeans agree or not. 

This doesn’t mean being involved in wars. But that threat is necessary to be able to stay away from war.  This may seem counter intuitive.  So, let me explain with the example of personal safety.   Petty criminals tend to target people they think are weak and unlikely to put up a fight.  So you’re most likely to be in a fight with a thug when you do not appear strong (and have fighting skills to back it up – it’s very visible to potential trouble makers).