There is a point to make about not taking war lightly.
War is tragic.
War is hell.
War is expensive.
When the choice is between having a war and putting up with some annoyance, we should put up with a lot of annoyance in preference to going to war.
But is war less likely for the poorly armed ?
Plums get picked.
If the US is very strong , we give ourselves the choice of whether to fight or put up with whatever seems the alternative. We have been very strong so long we are accustomed to having this choice.
If we were not strong enough to make an enemy ponder , we would be given fights without any choice in the matter much more often.
As long as the USA is the strongest of all , we can debate and consider each fight we get into, choosing not to fight quite a lot .We can work up our moral standing and use our learned sages to help make the decision.
Sometime in the future perhaps the USA will be forth or tenth or less the strongest, then we can't discuss whether to fight or not with anyone except our attacker.