re: Before you drop to your knees and convert...
America has defended itself successfully from the British Crown, the Fascists and the Soviets without ever having to resort to a global hegemony as envisioned by the Neocons. And we shall continue to do so without their help.
You don't defend your interests by placing the world in a stranglehold of political and economic chains, and enforcing it with raw, naked force. Every nation that has attempted to do so has failed, sooner or later, and it has deserved to fail.
If you really want to protect yourself from your catalog of villains, joining them is not the way to do it because the world will not long tolerate it.