Have you asked the people of Libya, Iraq and Syria what their world would be like without the USA?
Bullshit defense. There has never been a period in history with fewer wars and proportionally lower fatality rates due to violence. The existence of war at all does not somehow invalidate the value of American hegemony.
How long is your time frame? Many more people have died after Sep. 2001 than in the decades prior.
> The existence of war at all does not somehow invalidate the value of American hegemony.
What you seem to forget or don't realize is that the wars of the last decade are a direct result of what we're doing to maintain that American hegemony. So while it's been good for you because you're watching the wars on TV and reading it on the Internet, it's been very bad for those on whose land the wars are being fought.
That just isn't true at all[1]. Since the end of the Second Congo War[3] (in 2003) there hasn't been a conflict that's come close to 1MM causalities.
While the Iraq, Afghan and Syrian wars have been brutal and very well publicised they haven't been anywhere near as severe in terms of causalities.
(Don't take this as a comment either way on US policies though)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:List_of_wars_by_death_tol...
[2] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/globally-deaths-war...
The US has big issues and internal ideological conflicts and many inconsistencies, for sure. But, if you randomly sample the population you'll find that most of us want peace, freedom, success and happiness for everyone.
It's a shame that doesn't come across in US foreign and economic policies.
Once upon a time, the British Empire took it upon itself to civilize the uncivilized world, bringing heavy-handed order in many faraway 'nasty, brutish' places for queen and country. The sun has since set on the British Empire, and yet the world is doing just fine. Empires rise and they fall all the time.