From Phil's PNAC link below - furthering my personal theory that contemporary IR is methodologically as rigourous as alchemy - this, apparently is an argument. makes tony soprano look bookish;

"As Robert Kagan notes in “Of Paradise and Power,” his seminal examination of the growing distance between the strategic perspectives of America and Europe, the United States today is in much the same position as Marshal Will Kane, played by Gary Cooper in the movie “High Noon.” The townspeople are more than happy to live in the peace brought by his law enforcement but are nervous and resentful when the bad guys come back to town looking for him, to enact their revenge. The residents shortsightedly believe that if the marshal would just leave town, there would be no trouble. Of course, the reverse is true. Without Kane to protect them, the town would quickly fall into an anarchic state, paralyzed by ruthless gunslingers."