The Ranting Vulnerability
It seems these days that the United States is not living its best days as the world's sole hegemonic superpower. From the way the Syrian crisis has been dealt with, to the way the drone wars have changed the meaning of military conflict, to the embarrassing release of formerly secret espionage programs that force the president to apologize to foreign leaders. The reputation of the U.S. seems to be taking beating after beating. Yet, despite all this, the role of the U.S. in the world is idealized by many in the U.S. as the paragon of collective virtue and liberty. American Exceptionalism still thrives . The society of the rule of law --the Land of The Free. Outside the U.S., humankind yearns for a leader. A nation to look up to for guidance and hope --a preserver or global stability. The decades that followed the fall of the USSR have given way to the concoction of multiple purported superpowers that could, like Ivan Drago to our beloved Rocky, crush the U.S. as the sole heg