President Obama's recent request for military intervention in Syria brought about a curious response from a number of Republicans. Apparently some of them now feel that America should not be the world's police.
And while I imagine many would have agreed with this statement long before Barack Obama became president, the reality is that the US has military personnel in 148 countries and accounts for around 40% of the world's military spending - three times as much as the next country on the list and slightly more than the next 9 countries combined.
Additionally the US has somewhere around 700 foreign military bases which thoroughly dwarfs the rest of the world - combined.
The Republican stance on this spending and military proliferation has been fairly clear - not only is the money a good use of tax dollars but according to many we are actually under spending.
The problem then becomes if you spend like you expect to be the world police and if you establish bases around the globe to police the world, then - like it or not - you are the world police.
We also have a history of attempting to spread democracy, imposing our views on human rights, and combating terrorism across the world.
While an attack on Syria seems to have been averted for the time being the concern from the right lamenting our role as the world police while simultaneously advocating for more military might and influence is completely disingenuous.
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