Rick Steves was ambushed in San Jose, California by a Marine wanting to know if Rick took back his negative comments about the Iraq War now that peace and security had returned to the country. Rick replied that he "[sees] our nation acting like an empire."

It is an interesting argument and has generated 120+ comments at his blog. I don't completely disagree with Rick. But his argument brings up a fundamental problem with liberalism of the 21st century. The inability to come up with a solution for evil in the world. Rick details the sins of America with:

We maintain military bases in 130 countries as if it’s our right to do so. In many foreign lands, the biggest and most fortified building in the entire country is the embassy of the USA. Only we can declare the natural resources of another nation on the opposite side of the globe (e.g., oil in the Middle East) “vital to our national security interests.”

And he's got good complaints, but he doesn't deal with the reason America has bases in 130 countries or why our embassy is fortified. It is because there is evil in the world.