Foreign war-seeking corrodes a nation’s liberty into domination, Adams warned.

Evidence

The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brows would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of freedom and independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an imperial diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world: she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 1052

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A dense, resonant formulation of how empire degrades domestic liberty — worth sitting with beyond the immediate military-basing context.
• SHARE: Good candidate to send to someone interested in American foreign policy or imperial decline discourse.