After reading the article titled “The U.S. Role in the World: Four Futures”, I have been thinking a lot about which one of the four is most likely to happen in our current state. Here’s a quick overview: future one is describes the US trying to lead the world to democracy by applying our principles and values around the world; future two is to protect US interests globally, even if that means having to act alone; future three is a US that only cares about direct threats to the homeland; future four acknowledges that our fate is bound with the fate of other nations, therefore all decisions should be made together. None of these futures are perfect. We cannot force our values on other societies, as future one suggests. We cannot be selfish, either, like future two and three. Unfortunately, we also cannot make all decisions through the UN, as future four suggests, because frankly nothing will get done.
I don’t know what we should do, but I do have a guess about what we will do under our current leadership. The Trump campaign made a big deal about focusing on our own problems, and I think that we are headed for future three. He’s already begun isolating us, with the immigration ban. He is also trying to get rid of terrorist threats, although he is doing that outside of the country. However, getting rid of terrorist threats internationally is necessary for future two so he can start protecting the homeland. More so, if Trump cares about improving our economy, by all means I hope he does, however I also hope he realizes that economies are interdependent. Obviously, everyone can see the problems with Trump’s plan. We are important to the international scene, and other nations are important to us. We cannot afford to break ties.
Elizabeth and the World 
I completely agree with your view, Elizabeth. We cannot afford to isolate ourselves from other countries. With the expansion of globalization, the world is becoming more and more interdependent. Breaking away from the world would be a huge mistake. We need to be using diplomacy to strengthen ties between allies and resolve conflicts with enemies. Though Trump has been making a lot of attempts to break away from the international community, I do not think his policies will change our future forever. With the checks and balances involved in the United States government, we will stay strong.
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I, personally, have always been an advocate for future three. As I say this, I do recognize the faults in said future. While retreating into our country and letting the other countries fend for themselves seems good for us, problems will occur around us. We will gain back our troops, we will have more money in the country, and we won’t have conflict with countries that don’t want us in their business. However, then other tyrannic countries and organization have the opportunity to absorb other countries and hold the potential to create an axial superpower. Who knows what will happen next?
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