Iraq

Even with a strong desire to grant mercy—truly undeserved mercy—Americans must energetically seek justice, even in warfare, lest we become like the enemies we seek to defeat: who are without America’s long tradition of rooting our laws in the laws of the God of the Bible.

In the ceaseless struggle between civilization and barbarism, America has tipped the scales toward civilization, toward freedom and justice. In many ways, it has organized its national life—its economic, military, and moral resources—toward this end. Are we still up to the task?

When it comes to democracy promotion, it seems the Obama-Trump era is the aberration.

Should Christians promote nation-states in all places at all times? No.

We need a return to a sober Christian Realism that appreciates our fallenness, the fallenness of the world, and our limits in shaping world events.

All in all, American Power and Liberal Order is an excellent book providing a spirited defense of what has largely been a successful American grand strategy for the past 70 years. The big question remains whether the same framework could work for the next 70 years, or whether new external challenges and internal political changes call for a different approach.

President George H.W. Bush was a principled Christian politician who was devoted to public service as an outgrowth of his faith, and not in spite of it.

The downward trend in foreign aid spending by the US government is not a function of the American people losing interest in foreign aid. After all, it has never been popular. More likely, it’s a function of presidents no longer defending foreign aid, explaining it, or connecting it to the national interest.

The United Nations has failed to do what it was created to do—“promote the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security.”