I would like to point out right now that MUCH of the power has been taken away and redirected in other areas, largely because of Clinton, AND I might add, we CAN kick any non-American ass on the Globe, so long as we do it one at a time.
The functionality of the United States Military has always been to fight several small scale conflicts and at least two Regional Conflicts at the same time, as well as maintaining Peace Keeping forces as the UN requires them.
(I apologize for my crudity on this information, there are exact established numbers somewhere, I've merely forgotten them as of late, if anyone knows how many conflicts of which scale the US wants to be able to fight, please, enlighten me)
To be short, we no longer maintain this ability. If we went to war today with another nation, or group of nations, we would win, eventually, but it would be costly. Also, we could not fulfill our peace-keeping and military obligations that have our forces commited global and fight another large scale war at the same time.
I'm not a war-hawk, which I've been deemed at places where I advocate increased military spending, but I am a tax-payer, and I've read the Constitution. The Government is required to "Provide for the Common Defense." It's supposed to uphold our laws and protect our rights, and it can't do that if it's always been forced to shut down bases and send carriers to dock at the end of a deployment because there isn't enough fuel to fly planes off them anymore.
I love peace, and would love to see peace, but there will always been a need for a standing military, and I think we need to make sure it's one that get's the job done.