# Is Pat Buchanan Right? (America's Problems Due to American Empire) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 19, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819 "2010-06-19T23:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/41 "2010-06-21T15:50:44Z")
What **Sam Stone** said. Cutting back military expenditure would be an excellent idea in the short term, and a hugely horrible one in the long term. Now, cutting back on _use_ of the military is another thing entirely. That, unfortunately, is the problem with having such a large, effective military machine: sometimes, some [random](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq) [asshole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada) is going to take it for a spin. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/42 "2010-06-21T16:12:13Z")
Meh. If you didn’t have the problems of being a superpower, you’d have the problems of _not_ being a superpower. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/43 "2010-06-21T16:45:01Z")
Like Bryan Adams. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/44 "2010-06-21T17:48:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > As a Canadian, let me tell you that being liked is all well and good - but it doesn’t translate into influence. And it doesn’t keep enemies from wanting to kill you. Canada is a very well respected country, and our people are generally well liked around the world. But the only time were have been relevant and actually been able to influence world events to our liking was when he was the military clout to back up our ideals, and the military clout to offer allies something of real value in exchange for their support. 😕 But, Canada doesn’t **have** any military clout. You have forces equal to ours man-for-man I’m sure, but you spend so little of your GDP on the military, comparatively, that all you can do with them is offer them in support of other countries’ military adventures. And that works out fine. Canada doesn’t **need** to “influence world events.” Nobody is afraid of Canada, and nobody hates you either; and it is for the latter reason that nobody ever attacks you. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/45 "2010-06-21T18:12:53Z")
Canada’s defense expenditure as a percentage of GDP is a paltry 1.14%. However, its absolute defense expenditure is CAN$22 billion, or more than all but ten other countries. Since nations generally do not agree to fight their wars on a GDP-handicapped basis, I don’t think it matters how much Canada spends on its armed forces percentage-wise. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/46 "2010-06-21T19:14:07Z")
[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6476848121246965967#](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6476848121246965967#) Here is the video of Ben Cohen and his Oreo cookie show of our budget. We do not have a reasonable amount of money in the military budget. We spend more than the rest of the world combined. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/47 "2010-06-21T19:34:50Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6476848121246965967#](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6476848121246965967#) Here is the video of Ben Cohen and his Oreo cookie show of our budget. We do not have a reasonable amount of money in the military budget. We spend more than the rest of the world combined. But that raises the question of how much more money other countries- the EU for example- would have to spend on their militaries if the _Pax Americana_ wasn’t there. What if Britain and France had to guarantee that oil tankers would continue to move through the Strait of Hormuz, or that a belligerent Russia wouldn’t threaten to use force in Europe?? What if Japan were suddenly faced with a China that was contemplating invading Taiwan, or a North Korea poised to invade South Korea? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/48 "2010-06-21T19:52:26Z")
Britain is more than capable of ensuring that oil tankers continue to move through the Strait of Hormuz. Prior to 9/11, the RAF had as many aircraft permanently based in the Middle East as the US, including a significant number at [Khasab](http://www.ourairports.com/airports/OOKB/). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/49 "2010-06-21T20:32:22Z")
> [@](#): > > I might point out that there’s no draft. Correction: There is a draft, it’s just not active at this moment. But there are still plenty of people around who were drafted to fight in a war, and we’re still dealing with some of the after-effects of that. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/50 "2010-06-21T22:02:12Z")
It’s the kind of thing a liberal college professor would say and be vilified for, “blaming” or even “hating” America. Interesting that it came from Buchanan. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819/51 "2010-06-21T23:09:35Z")
Pfft. Professors. What do _they_ know? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pat-buchanan-right-americas-problems-due-to-american-empire/543819.md?page=2)