I got to thinking about your point of view.....how it's a "good thing"

>"many of the earlier influences were spent to keep out communists from taking over a region or nation. It is is such a good thing - that we have little idea how bad the world might be had we not attempted to influence and befriend these little dictatorships around the world."

Okay, so by saying that OUR way is the best way, we have used capitalism to conquer communism.
And I guess we had no other way to do it than by force.
What kind of a world would it have been if we hadn't fought to own these countries as partners?
What if we just bribed them, traded with them, gave them a better deal?
Could we have done it without bloodshed?
SHOULD we have done it without bloodshed?

No, weapons was a way to go about it.
And the defense and weapons industry PROSPERED, and a lot of ex-military men bought these businesses and prospered as well. As a matter of fact, we armed a lot of countries and are now making enemies out of them.
And some countries RESENT what we have done, and their anger is our karmic payback.
For someone of your intelligence (whether you're in it, or not); I would think you would have had a more rounded perspective by now. You kinda remind me of the Ollie North type, always right and never admitting to NOTHIN.

Yeah, right......you're lily white allright.
Mind you, I always try to be the Devil's Advocate on these boards.
I realize it's not as easy as it looks.
Perhaps Man knows no other way.
But we had better FIND one, or we'll be moving toward a dangerous impasse.