Because America entered both world wars of the 20th century last, while all the other great powers bled one another, and because we outlasted the Soviet Empire in the Cold War, America emerged, in the term of President George H.W. Bush, as “the last superpower.”

We had it all. We were the “indispensable nation.” We saw further into the future. We could impose our “benevolent global hegemony” on all mankind. And so it was that we set out to create a “new world order,” plunging into successive wars in Iraq, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq again, Syria, Libya, Yemen.

So doing, we bled ourselves, distracted ourselves, exhausted ourselves and sundered ourselves, until half the country was echoing George McGovern’s 1972 campaign slogan: “Come home, America.”

And as we went crusading for a new world order, Vladimir Putin’s Russia gradually recovered from its crushing Cold War defeat, and China began to move out of America’s shadow to become the most powerful rival modern America had ever faced.

Now, U.S. hegemony is being everywhere challenged — in Eastern Europe, the Near East, Southeast Asia, East Asia. And the challenges arise from autocrats united in their resolve to reduce the power and the presence of the United States in their part of the world.

All of America’s adversaries have something in common: They want us out of their neighborhood.

After President Joe Biden’s humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, Ukraine is the site of the latest challenge, triggered by Russia’s deployment of some 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders.

Given that he caused this crisis, Putin is unlikely to withdraw all his forces without visible assurances that Ukraine never becomes a member of NATO. And, given that no NATO ally or neighbor of Ukraine has shown a disposition to fight Russia for Ukraine, Putin is likely ultimately to prevail.

Neither Georgia nor Ukraine will soon be invited to join NATO, no matter the “open door” policy of the alliance.

And as Putin is committed to creating a sphere of influence where no next-door neighbor is a NATO ally, we are probably only at the beginning of a series of crises over the exclusion of nations from the alliance.

A second member of the global anti-American front is Iran.

The U.S. and Iran are said to be close to renewing the nuclear deal from which former President Donald Trump walked away. Yet, the persistent threat from Iran and its radical allies like the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Shia militia in Syria and Iraq, and Hezbollah in Lebanon is likely to complicate any U.S. effort to extricate ourselves from a Middle East that has consumed so much of our attention and resources since 9/11.

In East Asia, China has begun anew sending military aircraft into the Air Defense Identification Zone of Taiwan, and it has never relinquished its claim to that island of 24 million and former U.S. ally. After the Ukraine crisis is resolved, Taiwan is likely to soon be back on the front burner.

If we would not fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine, why would we go to war with China to defend the independence of Taiwan, when, 50 years ago this month, President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger declared Taiwan to be “a part of China”?

North Korea has resumed testing its cruise and ballistic missiles. And Pyongyang is not going to hold off forever the testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The question here is how far off is the next confrontation. And, as there is no U.S. national disposition to fight for Ukraine, it is hard to believe that, 70 years after sending 350,000 troops to South Korea, we would send an army of that size to again fight the North.

Bottom line: The balance of power is constantly shifting. And in this new century, it has been shifting in favor of America’s adversaries, all of whom wish to see us diminished.

Where former President George W. Bush warned of an “axis of evil” that included Iraq, Iran and North Korea, its successor today includes Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, a far more formidable axis. Moreover, America’s relative power and willingness to use it is far diminished from what it was in George Bush’s day.

The new correlation of forces:

North Korea has become a full-fledged nuclear power with intercontinental ballistic missiles that can hit the USA. Russia’s armed forces are more imposing than they were two decades ago. China has swept past every rival power to the United States, while America’s allies are less powerful and less united behind it.

Meanwhile, America has run up a national debt larger than the entire U.S. economy. Its trade deficits are at record levels. Its borders are being overrun by migrants from all over the world. And its disposition to intervene, engage and fight for democracy has rarely been lower.

The global stress test of the last superpower is on, and it is not likely we will pass it with a grade as high as the one we had earned by the Cold War’s end.

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of “Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.”

Would it be turning America into a “banana republic” to hold governors and mayors accountable by arresting them and putting them on trial for their grotesque violations of Constitutional, as well as local, individual rights over the last two years? Here’s my answer to someone who raised that objection:

I don’t accept your premise. Your implied premise (which I realize you’ll deny, but it’s still implied by what you say) is that any behavior is acceptable by government officials, so long as we don’t become a “banana republic.” But we already ARE a banana republic — or worse — if government officials may declare “emergency” any time they wish and do anything they wish, with any rationalization, and then suffer NO consequences whatsoever when they suddenly set us “free.” Frankly, this is madness. Being a “banana republic” — whatever that term precisely means — is the least of our problems, by far. IF our legal system still has any validity (and I recognize it may be too far gone already), then no legal system worthy of the name would permit a governor or mayor to simply take over the private property and livelihood of individual citizens for a period of time, essentially kidnapping them or holding them hostage under a state of martial law, and then escape the legal system.

The root of the problem, of course, is not really legal or political. It’s philosophical and also (as a secondary consequence) psychological. The majority of people are apparently so evil, so stupid or so cowardly that it’s not possible to muster up any version of my solution to the problem, i.e., to put them on trial. My best guess is that about a third of the population (the ones who still support Biden) are irredeemably evil and applaud the insanity; another third are befuddled, confused, indifferent or cowardly; and another third are damn angry, but for whatever reasons sitting on the sidelines and waiting for someone or something to save us, as the tyrants go along their merry way unaccountable and unrestrained from doing even MORE damage tomorrow, next week or next year.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

As the average American wakes up from their slumber, feeling like they’re in Venezuela, know you aren’t alone. Our ruling class has spent decades getting high off our money supply while the rest of us worked to survive. We woke up to inflation nation, and before I go any further, I want to make sure we don’t lose sight of what inflation means.

By definition, inflation is an increase in the money supply. We hear inflation used to describe rising prices, but I want to clarify what it means. When used as a term to describe an increase in prices, our corrupt politicians like to blame “greedy” business practices. No, no, no. We aren’t letting politicians off the hook. Too much liquidity paired with a service economy that doesn’t produce goods, instead of importing them since we ship our jobs overseas, has our hard-earned money losing value daily. The average American makes less today than last year every time they head into work.

Our ruling class is driving America to the brink of collapse. The 2008 financial crisis will look like a walk in the park compared to where we are heading. Instead of allowing our economy to recover, politicians and the Fed decided to continue to flood the economy with cheap money instead of coming clean with the American people. The coming crash will devastate our country.

Politicians refuse to stop feeding at the trough, instead likely crashing the U.S. dollar. It is hard to believe that such recklessness is simply due to incompetence. It seems more of a concerted effort between ruling elites to crash the dollar and give rise to another form of fiat currency. While the U.S. continues to decline and bow down to the Chinese Communist Party, the rise of a new global power and a new world order seems imminent.

People are flocking to cryptocurrency, gold, and real assets as they try to salvage the value of the dollars they have. During this time of massive instability and uncertainty, I urge readers to look up different options that might make sense for them.

The genuinely moral crime is the devastation we have bestowed on future generations. Most mainstream economists and political pundits talk about finance and economies in convoluted terms to scare the average person into digging in too deep. Precisely our disinterest in understanding what the monetary policy our leaders engaged in has gotten us to where we are now. Citizens must be active participants in our country’s future.

That means we ought to start caring about who we elect and do our due diligence to understand economic and public policy. There is a worker revolt happening worldwide for those who are sick of the status quo and ready to shake up the corrupt system.

Representing NV01 in Congress will be the honor of a lifetime. I have worked shoulder to shoulder with those I am running to represent, and their futures will be at the forefront of my mind while I fight every day against those who want to radically transform our nation.

The era of the worker, the outsider, and those who don’t belong has arrived. America’s political landscape is changing. I look forward to fighting for legislation that will answer to the people and empower them. My priority is to audit the Federal Reserve Bank, fire Fauci, get to the bottom of Nov 3rd, and build the wall. Our leaders have destroyed our families and future generations with careless policies, and our people deserve honesty and solutions.

Carolina Serrano led the Latinos For Trump outreach effort for President Donald J. Trump in Nevada and is now running for US Congress in Nevada’s First Congressional District.