Security depends on manufacturing

There is a contradiction between 1) being the world's policeman fighting multiple foreign wars; and 2) taking an ideologically rigid free trade/laissez-faire approach to manufacturing. Without a home-based manufacturing sector, we lose the ability to pay for a military capacity - except by adopting massive and unsustainable state subsidies (see the demise of the Soviet Union); even more damaging is the fact that manufacturing provides a stimulus to scientific development. It is no accident that the greatest military powers in the modern age have been great manufacturing powers. For an example of how a globalised or flat-earth production chain directly impacts on security, read the Manufacturing News article concerning foreign-made electronic components used by the American military at: http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/08/1117/counterfeitelectronics.html.

Yet the neo-conservatives/liberal imperialists have supported these contradictory policies since the fall of the Soviet Union. There were strong tendencies towards this in the 1980's, but the impact was not so obvious then; and Reagan at least imposed tariffs to protect vital industries.

Even if your foreign policy ambitions are not so grandiose as the neo-cons, you must still consider that we need to defend ourselves. With an imploding demographic structure and a de-industrialised economy, we are likely to be very vulnerable over the next 50 years. This is especially alarming given the high population growth in areas bordering Europe.