What if a foreign bloc decides debt-ridden United States is ready for Soviet-style dissolution?

Early in his presidency, Ronald Reagan and his confidantes assessed the Soviet Union, and came to a bold conclusion: their nemesis was ripe for the taking.

So the Reagan administration began a long and costly upgrade of America's weaponry. The Soviets, predictably, followed suit. The White House could afford the outlays. The Kremlin could not. By the time Reagan left office, early in 1989, the Soviet Union was teetering. Within the next few years, the empire collapsed, leaving Russia isolated and largely reliant on its own resources.

Now, history may be repeating itself. But it is the United States that may become a target for destruction. In his determined effort to destroy markets and aggregate power in Washington, President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have run up levels of debt that would be dangerous even in a peaceful world, where natural disasters, disease and unpredictable events could overmatch the nation's ability to remain solvent.

Because of Social Security obligations and Medicare, a further runup in U.S. indebtedness already is inevitable.

The question is: Is there a hostile leader, or bloc, elsewhere in the world who will try to capitalize on America's financial weakness by forcing us to make huge new outlays that could jeopardize our future? China has no obligation to buy our bonds. It will continue to buy bonds only as long as that is beneficial to the Chinese economy.

If the Chinese stop buying U.S. bonds, who will step into the breach to finance America's transition from a market-based system designed to empower individuals and families to a statist system that arrogates power to a corrupt, self-serving liberal establishment rooted in Washington, the colleges and universities and foundations?

Some Americans already are taking drastic action out of frustration with difficulties in the homeland. The New York Timess reported Monday that growing numbers of overseas Americans are taking the weighty step of renouncing their citizenship.

“'What we have seen is a substantial change in mentality among the overseas community in the past two years,' said Jackie Bugnion, director of American Citizens Abroad, an advocacy group based in Geneva. 'Before, no one would dare mention to other Americans that they were even thinking of renouncing their U.S. nationality. Now, it is an openly discussed issue.'

The Federal Register, the government publication that records such decisions, shows that 502 expatriates gave up their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status in the last quarter of 2009. That is a tiny portion of the 5.2 million Americans estimated by the State Department to be living abroad.

Still, 502 was the largest quarterly figure in years, more than twice the total for all of 2008, and it looms larger, given how agonizing the decision can be. There were 235 renunciations in 2008 and 743 last year. Waiting periods to meet with consular officers to formalize renunciations have grown."