I always like to ask my students if, as American policy makers say ad nauseum, America's values are universal, why do we have to fight so many wars to get others to accept those values? American policy is framed in one way. We're trying to promote democracy. We're trying to promote free markets. We're trying to promote human rights. But really what American foreign policy is about is promoting American power: ensuring that America remains the hegemonic dominant power of the international system and minimizing any source of threat to America's geopolitical dominance.