Throwback Truths: Is America Really “Outraged” into War?

At the Institute on the Constitution, we believe that safeguarding our future begins with understanding and reinforcing our foundations. That’s why we’ve created Throwback Truths — a series that revisits classic video presentations from Michael Anthony Peroutka, founder of IOTC. These timeless messages encourage us to reflect on who we are as a nation and the principles that define true liberty.

Modern political discourse often assumes that nations, including the United States, base their foreign policies and public declarations on moral principles. Yet a closer examination suggests otherwise. Evidence increasingly indicates that economic and geopolitical motives—not ethics—drive the decisions of the American regime.

A recent report highlights the unsustainable trajectory of U.S. national debt, which has now surpassed $17.7 trillion—an increase of over $1 trillion in the past year alone. Since the early 2000s, the debt has ballooned by more than $7 trillion. Such figures point to a financial system strained to its limits. And yet, somehow, the system continues. How is it possible for a nation that no longer produces significant goods—relying instead on fiat currency and consumption—to maintain its economic dominance?

The answer, in part, lies beneath the surface of international trade: oil and the dollar.

For over half a century, global oil transactions have been conducted almost exclusively in U.S. dollars. This “petrodollar” system ensures continued demand for American currency, regardless of its declining intrinsic value. So long as oil remains essential to global infrastructure—and so long as oil is bought with dollars—other nations will need to accumulate and use American currency, effectively propping up the U.S. economy.

However, this monopoly has not gone unchallenged. In 2000, Iraq sought to shift its oil sales from dollars to euros. That move was swiftly followed by U.S.-led military intervention. More recently, nations like Russia, China, Iran, and Syria have faced heightened tensions and media hostility from the U.S. establishment. Is it merely coincidence that these same nations have explored alternatives to the petrodollar?

The notion that such conflicts arise from genuine moral outrage becomes harder to accept when considering the U.S. government's own record. A nation that has sanctioned the death of over 60 million unborn children through abortion, and that continually infringes on the rights and freedoms of its citizens, can hardly claim the moral high ground in world affairs.

Instead, a more plausible explanation emerges: American foreign policy often serves to protect the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency. Documents such as the Project for a New American Century advocate for the strategic removal of governments in the Middle East to ensure continued economic dominance. This view suggests that “moral” justifications are often a façade for deeper, systemic motivations.

This is not a call to cynicism, but to clarity. If the causes for endless war and diplomatic hostility are not ethical but economic, then the American people must begin to ask harder questions—and demand honest answers. It is not enough to assume righteousness by tradition or repetition. As history warns, long-standing habit does not make a thing right—only familiar.

It is time to examine not only what our government does, but why—and to hold it accountable not to appearances, but to truth.