The government can give citizens opportunity and it's their responsibility to take advantage of it.

The less oil the world uses, the less important the region that has so much of it becomes.

The United States doesn't do what it does in the world for altruistic reasons. Nobody set out to be the world's government.

American influence in the world is certainly considerable, but the United States does not control, directly or indirectly, the politics and economics of other societies, as empires have always done, save for a few special cases that turn out to be the exceptions that prove the rule.

American power confers benefits on most inhabitants of the planet, even on many who dislike it and some who actively oppose it, because the United States plays a major, constructive, and historically unprecedented role in the world.

The windfall of great riches can, if mismanaged, make things worse, not better, for the recipients.

In the past when a country became as powerful as the United States, other countries would band together to clip its wings. But that isn't happening now and I don't think it's not going to happen, because other countries are not threatened by us, and they secretly appreciate the services that we provide, even if they don't usually say so.