At the beginning of this month, a spy balloon from the People’s Republic of China was spotted over US Airspace. It was first detected in Montana but was not shot down until it was off the coast of South Carolina. It was given days of time to essentially fly across the entire country before finally being shot down. As sensible as it is to be wary of hurting anyone on the ground, this balloon is already an indicator of a huge problem for the United States.

Additionally, a few months before the barely less aggressive Russian Federation launched an invasion of Ukraine, we had withdrawn troops from Afghanistan in a disorderly fashion. Instantly, the Taliban, a vital contributor to the September 2001 attacks, took over the country. A friend became an enemy because of American weakness. I argue, based on the unimpressive record of the Biden administration’s national security and foreign policy since 2021, that the United States of America and the world are safer when we are stronger and more present militarily.

I am not arguing that the United States should have initiated its reputation as a worldwide peacekeeper or that we should have engaged in all the wars that we did. Yet, both points are certainly hindsight issues. Looking forward, withdrawing into isolation will be detrimental. Any adversaries which we would face overseas would knowingly and willingly encroach on our very homeland. Although this was not always the case, it definitely is now. A reconnaissance balloon from a communist, autocratic nation engaging in genocide, with which we have a crude, Cold-War type history, should be more than enough to prove this point.

Speaking of cold wars, we have a cold war with China, whether we want it or not. If Ukraine loses to Russia, under any circumstance, the world will have its moment to see how the United States looks in all of this. They will take it as an indication that the United States of America is on a decline. To be frank, I opine that we are on several levels. The last thing we need is to calm down our military strength or presence. The end goal should be to have a strong, technologically advanced military in all six branches, have a military presence in nations with whom we are allies, and stay there. The objective overall is to make our allies respect us and our enemies fear us.

Concerning economic matters, we have no business being so kind to our native corporations who engage in trade with our enemy nations. How many items must be made in China? Although free trade is a championed right in the United States, the rights of those traders end where the rights of individuals begin. The individuals I mention here include the millions of both natural-born and naturalized Americans living within our own country, particularly the right to work, as well as the rights of individuals who are less fortunate, who live in the countries from which companies like to buy cheap, slave-like labor. So much for what protections we had supposedly ratified into our constitution! Any amount of inflated pricing we would incur at home from imposing harsh tariffs on imports would be a small price to pay for steadily hacking at the chain China is building around the world’s neck.

When we left Afghanistan, we let those people down, our own people down, and the sacrifices of our dead down. China could possibly continue growing, regardless of whether we change our footing. Yet if the United States of America does not start trying to lift its big stick back up, like Teddy Roosevelt suggested, not only will evil regimes like China continue to grow in power without doubt, but our very own republic could fall. It is time for us to start treating our nation’s blood like it matters, because it does. It need not always be shed, but it must be used wisely. God bless America!