Foreign policy in the U.S. is almost entirely an elite activity. Domestically, abundant resources and permissive mass opinion have left the American foreign-policy elite free to roam. But, powerful as the United States is, the American foreign-policy elite has dreamed up policies extravagant enough to outstrip that power—leading to fiascoes in Iraq and Afghanistan and a failure to check the rise of China. No one in the foreign policy community has been held accountable for these failures.

Justin Logan is senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
AfghanistanDefense and Foreign PolicyIraqTerrorism and Homeland Security