My guess is we won't. I can't see the comments of the two women you mentioned, as they both blocked me long ago, so I can't comment on what they said. Eisnehower said it long ago, that the MIC steals money from providing for the public good and needs of average people, but it makes a small number of people very rich, and the pols in DC are too bought off to change the system. So we'll always get empire and the MIC, no matter which major party controls DC.

@TomMcGiverin I wholeheartedly agree with you--Democrats have certainly been happy to contribute to the American Empire. It's been a cross-party constant for decades, as is the accompanying corruption. But it was the dictatorship we almost got with the last Republican "pResident" that was uniquely GQP.

@DharmaBum50 That's the thing, the Dems support the ruling class over us peasants, as well as empire, the MIC, endless wars, erosion of civil liberties, corporate control of government and media, but at the same time, they want to maintain the charade of elections and democracy, because they prefer to keep order and relative peace in this country. While the Repubs, under Trumpism, have thrown out all pretense of keeping democracy and rule of law, they just want civil war, followed by a dictatorship that will eliminate them needing to win elections, follow any laws or respect the rule of law, and hold power permanently, even if they are always a minority of the population. And the Repubs will openly have the ruling class running everything, and everyone else will be openly treated like serfs, while any dissenters or despised groups will be imprisoned or lose all of their rights as citizens.

@TomMcGiverin I won't say your pessimism isn't well-founded, but the worst case scenario is not a fait acompli. Not yet anyway. There is a slim chance that we can turn things around.

Be my guest!

We have something like 700 bases around the world.

@Flyingsaucesir To go down memory lane, and because my kid has moved to Europe, I used Google Maps to look at some of the bases I was familiar with in Germany and Japan. Things have changed incredibly, but it has been 40 years in some cases. I think our focus has been moved from Europe to the middle east where we're fighting wars over oil. We cannot sustain this.