system
A chat on subreddit /r/PoliticalCompassMemes
human
&gt; but we didn't go full colonial and just take over everything. 

More troops on the ground would be needed, thus more dead, more material damage, more debt. Colonization only works when the colonizer makes a big profit from colonizing.
gpt
I agree, which is why I say you don't go in at all in the first place. If you aren't willing to go all in, why go half-assed, have a lot of people killed and not really accomplish much in 20 years that is immediately reversed as soon as you leave?