Staggering Shock ==> Intense Amusement ==> Fierce Pride ==> Piqued Curiosity ==> Tentative Dismay

All in the space of about 5 seconds, after reading this in the New Yorker (from 2002):

"America's relative position in the world has no real historical precedent. Imperial Britain, which at its peak reigned over a quarter of the world's population, is the closest analogy to the United States today, but it is still an inadequate one. To take an example, the symbol of Britain's supremacy was its Navy, which—at great cost to the British treasury—was kept larger than the next two largest navies combined. The United States military today is bigger, in dollars spent on it, than the militaries of the next largest fifteen countries combined—and those expenditures amount to only about four per cent of the country's gross domestic product."

I mean, seriously.

For those wondering about the tentative dismay, it's based on the following thought process: What would happen if we couldn't afford that military anymore? Would we be relegated to the status of, say, France's bitch?

*shudder*

Can we continue to afford our military, with half a trillion dollars in national debt (and spiralling)?

And the real kicker: Are any of the people voting in November even thinking about questions like these?