"Unfulfilled Expectations"

"The North Atlantic alliance we created to defeat Adolf Hitler's fascist legions and protect against the threat of Soviet expansion is now in ruins -- incapable of bringing even a tinhorn despot like Moammar Gadhafi to heel. The aircraft, ships and military hardware necessary to protect us and our Western allies -- including our former adversaries Germany and Japan -- are deemed to be too expensive to build. New threats, such as a nuclear-armed Iran or North Korea, are ignored. Meanwhile, flaccid political leaders in Washington and Europe continue to loot national treasuries to fund unaffordable social programs and "entitlements." Whole nations, ours included, are being bankrupted by catastrophic "sovereign debt." It's fair to ask, What happened to those post-World War II expectations for an increasingly better future?"