Mao Zedong of China was only partly right when he said that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” He should have added that true national power depends on a strong economy to provide the military with the resources necessary to defeat deadly adversaries.

Arguably, Gen. Ulysses Grant was the first modern military commander to understand that economic power wins war. Grant knew that the North in the Civil War had significantly greater economic strength than the South. Grant knew that his armies would win through the constant application of military force against the armies of the South.

Later, in World War II and the Cold War conflict against the Soviet Union, the economic strength of the United States was the critical factor in achieving victory. The U.S.........

© Washington Examiner