Americans commonly refer to their homeland as the “best,” “greatest,” or “strongest” nation in the world. President Barack Obama used these terminologies throughout his inaugural address and has constantly referred back to these talking points in all of his public addresses. Congressmen do it. Business leaders do it. People on the street do it as readily as they can.

Perhaps now is the time, in light of all that has happened to this so-called “great” nation, for us to start acting like a superpower once again.

The United States has just about all the natural resources any nation could ever want or need. Save for our overwhelming addiction to petroleum, the U.S. has enough domestic stores of most resources to flourish. The U.S. also has a very large population of relatively skilled and well-educated workers. Our students are falling behind their counterparts around the globe, but with a little effort we can reverse that trend and invigorate generations of young people to build a stronger nation than the deteriorating mess they are currently encumbered with.

The U.S. used to be the model of inefficiency in national infrastructure. President Eisenhower began aggressively building and expanding our interstate highway system to join Americans with their neighbors and build a national community. He didn’t stop with the highways, he set the foundation for the expansion of our electrical grid and the reinvention of public utilities. The result was a bustling economy and sustainable growth.

Unfortunately, in the last two decades our infrastructure has begun to fall apart. Roads are in shambles, rail lines are antiquated, bridges are in disrepair and water control systems are in desperate need of upgrades.

We constantly hear that the U.S. would love to address its problems, if only it had the money. Our nation is dependent on foreign financing to cover our budget, and annual fiscal imbalances have been above $1 trillion for each of the past two years.

The Republicans have proposed shutting down virtually all social services to save money – without regard for those dependent on these services to survive.

The Democrats have simply proposed spending more, and finding the money later.

Nobody has proposed cutting back in the one area where we have more than enough money to spare. Our military budget is more than $1 trillion annually. This money is spent keeping us safe and prosecuting our foreign wars, but it is also spent on lavish expenses we could easily do without. While we can argue about the necessity of being in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no question that our bases in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and various far-flung regions are a waste of money. If we close the bases in Europe, Russian tanks would not appear on the border the next day. If we pulled out of Japan, Chinese fighters would not strafe the Imperial Palace immediately. It is is even unlikely that pulling out of South Korea would result in renewed conflict with the North.

These bases simply project American hard power, with no regard given to cost efficiency. If Americans cannot have a national health care system because such a system would “cost too much”, why is it perfectly acceptable to have a global police system.

The worst part is that America doesn’t even use its hard power. Most developed nations in the world maintain marginally sized militaries for national defense, and crack teams of Special Forces for overseas operations. They then pair up with nuclear allies to ensure that no major power would be foolish enough to force the issue.

The money saved by not maintaining a gigantic force of arms could then be put into education, infrastructure, research and development, health care and domestic stimulus programs. How can the E.U. afford that which the U.S. cannot?

If the U.S. cut its military budget by a small fraction, perhaps one-tenth, it could save tens of billions annually. That money could then be reinvested into things that build an economy. If we must send legions overseas, why not send students and teachers to build and rebuild our diplomatic image worldwide? That is what is already done in Europe, China, Japan, and elsewhere in the developed and developing world. It is yet another area where the U.S. falls sorely behind.

In the U.S. we typically wait until after a crisis has landed on us before we act. Our current crisis has been raging for nearly two years, and the time has come to take drastic steps to finally end it. If we are truly a great nation, let alone the “greatest” nation, we will be up to the challenge.

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