The war in Ukraine and Israel's response to the October 7 terrorist attack signal a worldwide turn away from U.S. leadership. While direct involvement in either conflict seems unlikely, U.S. troop deployments to the Middle East continue, and two U.S. carrier strike groups have formed a "naval bubble" around Israel. The Marine Corps Central Command even canceled its heralded Marine Corps Ball due to "operational commitments."

Heightened tensions come as the window of American leadership, and accompanying global stability, appears at risk of closing. Domestic instability among our European allies has compromised their ability to contribute to wars in their own backyard. Wise or not, every significant rival of America judges now to be a good time to test American leadership. Russian aggression in Ukraine, Chinese posturing towards Taiwan, and Iranian attacks on Americans signal the deterrent power of the American military is not what it once was. As the Biden administration fumbles, the rest of the world is turning against, or away from, America.

Conservatives must lead a "refounding" of the American military to embrace the possibility that war may be on the horizon. Too often, Americans hear a bipartisan chorus declaring the military a "melting pot" or "mirror" of civilian society. In this vein of rhetoric, the military's purpose is to reflect the country's demographic trends and be hospitable to the de rigueur conception of civil rights.

This reflects what Samuel Huntington, in The Soldier and the State,........

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