The magnanimous Pericles destroyed a similar argument for Athens to retreat from its imperial position by simply observing that “to recede is no longer possible.” For Athens–as America–perhaps it was unwise to assume an imperial posture. But to let it go is unsafe because the inherent resentment created by hegemony makes us a target. The smartest Athenian leaders of the Peloponnesian War–the great ideological struggle against totalitarianism in the Greek world–understood that empire can never roll backwards. It is a linear path and must only continue downhill, until the point at which it stops and fades to memory.