"We need to be honest with the president, with the Congress, with the American people, indeed with ourselves, about what those consequences (of additional defense budget reductions) are: That a smaller military, no matter how superb, will be able to go fewer places and be able to do fewer things. … To shirk this discussion of risks and consequences—and the hard decisions that must follow—I would regard as managerial cowardice," – Robert Gates, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute.
He's right. Unwinding global military hegemony to save the fiscal viability of the republic will have costs. It will limit our options for intervention, and require some ceding of influence in various regions where rising powers are emerging. But in my view, if done prudently, it is a crucial adjustment to global reality and its urgency intensified by the massive over-reach in the last ten years.
The Dish 