Reply #4: I reject the entire concept of 'superpower'.

[endarkenment]

We should be concerned only with the defense of our own borders and with the cooperative defense of the planet's trade routes. Arming one's self to the teeth and acting like a beligerant bully toward one's neighbors is one way to try to live in peace, but not a very good one, and it is historically a failed approach. Eventually our neighbors on this planet will have had enough of our crap and they will put an end to us. Even without a confrontation, we simply cannot sustain our empire with all of its far flung garrisons. We are already at the point of financial exhaustion.