Attrition: A wearing down or weakening of resistance, especially as a result of continuous pressure or harassment. In Dictionary.com the strongest opposite is ‘happiness’. It would seem therefore that a ‘war of attrition’ is definitely, not a happy engagement. So here we go again and it seems that the United States, its government and people, have had a strong tendency since 1950 to involve themselves in wars of attrition: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, the war on terror, Afghanistan, Russia-Ukraine and now with Iran. Ironically, The Founding Fathers advocated for a policy of neutrality and non-entanglement in foreign affairs. They favored commercial trade over political or military alliances as George Washington stated in his 1796 Farewell Address to “steer clear of permanent alliances.” Evidence our foreign policy was slipping when in 1971 the U.S. went from a creditor to a debtor nation. Nixon, President at the time, on Sunday night August 15th preempted the popular TV Show Bonanza and delivered what came to be called the “Nixon Shock.” He articulated that the United States would go off the gold standard which backed the US Dollar at a fixed rate of $35/ounce. From that day the Dollar became a fiat currency deriving its value from public trust in our government which is common with modern currencies. The U.S. national debt at the time was $398 billion and has ballooned to $39.11 trillion as of this writing. The point being that the US foreign policy of engagement in wars of attrition have essentially bankrupted the country without much proof we are significantly safer or more prosperous. These are extremely complicated histories which are oversimplified here so please spend a few minutes reading and develop your own conclusions about whether foreign wars of attrition are a beneficial path…