IT'S an election year and it’s time for evaluations. Evaluations of public office holders and all the candidates require our attention as we go to the polls on Nov. 6. Why not consider our foreign policy and our military position for the future?

For a long time now, the United States has had Pax Americana as a model for the world. For more than 70 years – during my lifetime – nearly half of that particular period of time, we have been at war. We like to think that peace is the cornerstone of this model, but, in fact, it’s only a rationalization.

Put in stark terms, many of our leaders believe in permanent U.S. military and economic domination of every region on Earth. At the essence of this belief is the plan for huge annual Department of Defense budgets and maintenance of required military bases and stations throughout the world. The estimates indicate that there are currently more than 700 bases in some 60 countries with about 200,000 U.S. military personnel in those military installations. As we write these words (and numbers), there is planning going on for future weaponization of outer space.

Politicians, writers and diplomats are of various opinions as to the nature and future of our imperialism: Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brezezinski, Nick Turse, Ron Paul, Tom Engelhardt, and David Harvey. There are others who also speak and write critically about the U.S. military and economic empire, and how it continues to expand. Just examine the recent in-depth discussions around the attacks on American foreign embassies and commercial establishments.

This systematic effort to involve ourselves in the control of other people, their governments, and their resources for our commercial and military purposes has led us into a state of near-isolation. The U.S. is the only super-power left standing since the Soviet Union collapsed 20 years ago. From all indications, China is not interested in global domination; yes, they want security and their share of the world’s wealth, but mostly through the use of ingenuity and common sense.

Consider these past actions (not to mention the combined costs in lives lost and wasted resources): 1) Early 1980s U.S. aid to Iraq – to Saddam Hussein’s regime fueling that country’s war with Iran; remember also Iran’s revolution and the U.S. Embassy occupation and hostage problem; 2) recall the 1986 revelation of President Reagan’s role in the Iran-Contra deal when illegal sales of weapons to Iran paid for the aid to the Nicaraguan Contras role in their bid to overthrow the legitimate Sandinista government in Nicaragua; and 3) the 2003 U.S. military invasion and war in Iraq which came to an end in 2011.

Those three examples, whether considered large or small encounters, pale beside our war in Vietnam where 60,000 U.S. soldiers died (as well as countless hundreds of thousands of civilians throughout Indochina). These actions also involved other federal agencies of our paternalistic government, not just the military per se. Oh, and yes, let us not forget the current war in Afghanistan; a U.S.-Afghan war of occupation that began in 2001, and is forecast to continue until 2014. At what enormous cost?

In my view, what is called for is serious discussion about the nature of our national interests. The Department of Defense needs tremendous downsizing; and it needs to become truly a defense department with a realistic purpose. Consideration is needed for defining or in re-defining our goals and purpose as a “leader in the free world.” So, when are we going to face up to this problem and begin to restructure our system, and stop the madness of Pax Americana?