It has been a <i>long</i> time since we in USA had a <i>real</i> war. By that, I mean a war the <i>outcome</i> of which actually affected the lives of average USA citizens, rather than the wealth of TPTB. (Of course, dying in war is a giant effect for a soldier and his family, but in recent memory that hasn&#x27;t been related to whether the war was &quot;won&quot; or &quot;lost&quot;.) Instructively, the last real war was also the last war declared by Congress in lawful fashion.