Castles are defensive, right? I mean the real ones, not the ones that only house princesses and occasional fairy tales. Hulking big fortifications designed to hide whole cities from the Big Bad Wolf at the door, right?

Wrong.

Castles are some of the nastiest machines ever invented. Yes, machines. Castles kill invaders. It’s what they are designed to do. Get too close and you get dead unless you are on very good terms with the occupants. Those massive walls are great vantage points to drop all sorts of malicious goodies from boiling oil – yes, they really did that – to just plain old rocks. Five stories is more than enough to make whoever gets hit by that rock regret ever coming near that wall.

Assuming they survive, of course.

And that’s just the start. Those great gate houses and narrow passages are just stone nets for stupid invading fish. Shooting fish in a barrel originated elsewhere but the principle was very much the same. Entering a castle uninvited was a great way to end up in a cemetery.

Now you know why invading armies preferred long, boring sieges. You might spend a few years being miserable but you at least stood a chance of not dying when you finally did have to attack those insanely deadly walls.

Then some knucklehead invented the trebuchet. That was pretty much the beginning of the long end of mass fortifications. Cannons finally finished the job in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.

Point being, hiding behind walls isn’t really how fortifications work. They provide shelter, that’s true, but only to give the defender a better chance of making the attacker go home, if necessary, in a box. Just hiding behind walls doesn’t ‘defend’; it just delays inevitable defeat and makes life hell while you’re waiting for it.

The wolf doesn’t leave the door. The Brothers Grimm version of the Three Little Pigs ends with the wisest little pig eating the wolf, not in revenge but because the wolf would not quit no matter how many times he was thwarted. That’s sadly the most realistic version – I mean, for a fairy tail. Enemies don’t knock politely and then just leave when the house is too strong to blow down or the castle walls too thick to knock down. No, they just keep coming until they invent the cannon or you do.

I’m a Christian but I grew up in the modern age where we tell ourselves new fairy tales about how Man is basically good. As a Christian, I know that’s not true, but I have to admit, a part of me doesn’t even want to think that people can be evil, let alone that they are basically sinful by nature.

Present company included.

Humans don’t come in size perfect. Nature or nurture, humans can be some of the nastiest critters on God’s green Earth. The level of depravity with which we treat each other is unfathomable.

God gives us an out. He lets us chose. We don’t have to be scumbags and most people, to their credit, try not to be. That’s the Image of God within us – the good we’re supposed to be that God helps us to become. I know, not all of you believe in the Christian God – it’s okay, I’m praying for you. But to that point, look at what’s happening in Western China right now, today if you don’t believe there has to be something that makes us seek good, because we sure as heck don’t do it naturally.

If we did, the Twentieth Century would have been completely different. One of great advancement, sure, but also the bloodiest in all of human history. That’s not the sign of a basically good human nature.

So if you think we can just take our political ball home and ignore the rest of the world, think very much again. Forget being good people who don’t turn their backs on their allies. Let’s just look at this from the most utilitarian, real politick, self centered, self serving, selfish point of view a nation-state can manage. What happens if the United States of America just drops out of the whole international thing?

We check the whole thing and become isolationist pacifists. We beat our F-35’s into some wildly oversized plowshares and mind our own business from here on out. What happens to the US then?

At first, not much, We still have two of the strongest walls ever – the Atlantic and the Pacific – so we’re still heck to invade. Coming through Mexico is a nightmare given their lack of decent roads. Canada is well, Canada. No one bothers to invade it because of the weather. Even if they did, getting to the border is going to be a pain.

IF we weren’t pacifists, no one would even try. Coming through Canada or Mexico just sets you up to find out what castle murder holes were like – in other words, dead. But our F-22s are now crop dusters. Even with our natural defenses, with no military we are very big, very juicy, sitting ducks.

So we keep the military, okay? But we’re no longer the world’s policeman so we can quit spending so danged much. Surely F18’s are plenty and we don’t need any aircraft carriers anymore, right?

For about a decade, sure. But like I said, the wolf doesn’t just leave. Canada couldn’t defend itself from a Yorkshire terrier in a bad mood. Mexico would be more challenging but without American back up, it stands no chance against Russia or China. Once we no longer have the naval forces and are barely defending our own borders, conquering our neighbors is cake.

If we haven’t put everything military back into production by then, we’re toast. Even with our full industrial might, we’d get hurt extremely bad and we might not be able to win even then.

But what about Europe?

What about them? We left them high and dry. They put up a heck of a fight but without either American financing or military might, well, they lasted a dang sight longer than Mexico but inevitably, Europe falls. We didn’t stand up for them when we could and should have; now they can’t stand up for us.

But why would Russia and China try to invade the US?

Today? Neither would even think about it. But if we’re weak, they want our stuff. Lovely farmland, rich natural resources, great rivers, and a few hundred million workers to extract all that value for them.

Russia still wants to be an empire. China has always wanted to rule the whole world. Both are still smarting from history not turning out the way they thought it should. Both hold grudges; some even legit.

But the biggest reason is that both are authoritarian dictatorships. Strongman dictators never have enough power both as rulers and nation-states. It’s baked into the system. Dictators can never rest easy with enemies all around, both at home and abroad. The risk is too great.

Now, my hypothetical assumes Russia and China maintain their uneasy alliance. That’s not so farfetched so long as America exists. Even tucked into our continental bed, we’re the boogieman that scares both. Sure, we’re not doing anything now but we might have a change of heart and we already know more about building weapons and fighting militarily than Russia and China likely ever will.

America becomes useful to both. A way to keep up the alliance until one is strong enough to destroy the other. Kicking in American teeth is a great way to learn the art of war and get revenge for all the times America made them look bad.

Not that they needed much help.

At any rate, the point remains. What keeps the wolf away from our door is the fact that we’re the biggest bad asses on the planet. We don’t bother tricking the wolf into climbing down the chimney. We go outside and tie that jerk into a couple knots then use him for making free throws all day. Too danged stringy to bother cooking and he’s not coming back once we’re done anyway.

Self serving jerks who turn their backs on their friends don’t end any better than that wolf. Eventually, atrophy sets in and we end up tough cuts of pork.

Pretty awful, huh? Now let me tell you the best part: the US’ greatest asset isn’t her geography or her military. It’s her allies.

America has more soft power – political allies and favors – than it does bullets. We have spent 80 years earning boatloads of good will. That means as imperfect as they are, our allies have our back. Partially out of self interest – they need our military might to back them up – but largely out of goodwill. Amazingly, even nation-states don’t want to be jerks.

Nation-states are just very large groups of people with some degree of sovereignty. Those people have hopes and dreams like all others and they have long memories. They remember when the US ticked them off but they remember even more when the US showed up during a crisis, sleeves rolled up and ready to help. This is why we had offers of aid from Third World nations after 9/11. We had helped them somewhere along the line and they were ready to help us.

That is America’s real might. We’re not even close to perfect but we’re the weird friend they know they can trust.

If we lose that, all the military might in the world won’t make up the difference.

Our best defenses are the geography God has blessed us with; our military power and prowess, because guns don’t shoot themselves, yet; and our fortress of allies. Together, they are a tremendous offensive power that defends us and everyone who thinks that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are God given to one and all.

If we plan to keep this country of ours, we have to stay in the game, learning how to play even better, until the game is truly over.

I wonder if nation-states ever hear ‘well done, good and faithful servant’?