The term “regime change” has been demonized in popular discourse, slandered as reckless adventurism or imperialist hubris, but this misunderstanding is ahistorical and lethally misguided. When America confronts autocratic regimes that threaten the very fabric of its national existence, regime change is a strategic choice, a moral obligation and a means of self-preservation.
Against adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party, which is engaged in a comprehensive and sophisticated campaign of subversion and coercion, regime change serves as a sword and a shield: a powerful deterrent to protect democratic civilization and a pathway to global stability through liberation.
Regime change, when properly engineered, serves as a weapon that America’s adversaries fear most. What do autocratic regimes fear above all else? Not sanctions. Not diplomatic shaming. Not military containment. Their deepest fear is the loss of power: the collapse of their regimes. This existential anxiety drives their behavior and dictates their aggression.
The CCP, the theocratic junta in Iran and the dynastic tyranny of North Korea share one unifying instinct: regime survival. They understand that once their monopoly on power is shattered, their grip on history evaporates. Thus, the credible threat of regime change is the most effective psychological and strategic weapon in America’s arsenal. It is the ultimate deterrence. No country in human history other than the United States can inspire popular regime changes in oppressed nations.
It is no coincidence that the greatest autocrats of our time react most hysterically to even the suggestion of regime instability. Chinese ruler Xi Jinping’s ultimate paranoia is a U.S.-inspired “color revolution” or a “peaceful evolution” demanding freedom, human rights and democracy. A robust U.S. posture that makes regime change a possibility rather than a taboo would serve as a powerful deterrent. When adversaries know that existential retaliation awaits them for existential aggression, the rules of engagement are fundamentally recalibrated in favor of the free world.
Keenly aware of this American weapon of soft power, our adversaries are actively conducting their own regime change schemes on the U.S. Today, America faces not just military rivalry but also a form of “soft invasion” by authoritarian actors, most notably China. The CCP is not content with domination inside its borders. It is actively executing a campaign of regime change against the United States. The hard truth is that if we don’t endeavor to change their regime, they will change ours.
This is not a metaphor. The Chinese regime has infiltrated American political, corporate, academic and media institutions. It has coerced or co-opted our elite decision-makers, diluted our public discourse with weaponized narratives and systematically undermined American sovereignty. It is reshaping our consumer habits to favor its dominance, hollowing out our industrial core, stealing our intellectual property and flooding our communities with fentanyl via drug cartel proxies. Through subtle but comprehensive penetration, Beijing seeks not merely to compete with America but also to replace its values, its systems and, ultimately, its identity.
If we fail to act decisively, the result will not be peace but surrender. A world in which the CCP can change the internal character of the United States while being shielded from consequences is a world in which liberty cannot survive. Thus, regime change is not aggression; it is national defense on the grandest scale.
More important, it is a fallacy to assume regime change is an American invention foisted upon unwilling populations. In reality, the cry for liberation comes first and foremost from the people suffering under despotic rule. In China, brave citizens have risked and lost their lives to protest tyranny. From the Tiananmen Square massacre to the White Paper Movement, Chinese voices have made clear their desire for a new dawn.
To support regime change is not to impose values. It is to affirm the values that already reside in the hearts of those yearning to be free. The United States is merely the amplifier and supporter of their aspirations. When regime change comes to China, as it must, it will not be a foreign dictate. It will be a native demand for justice. We either stand with the oppressed or we empower their oppressors.
The no-regime-change absolutists often invoke the specter of “forever wars,” as if every act of strategic intervention necessarily leads to a quagmire. This conflation is deceptive. The greatest victories in U.S. history — over Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and Soviet communism — were regime change operations. These were not “endless wars” but definitive, transformative struggles that yielded decades of peace and prosperity.
Moreover, inaction in the face of autocratic expansionism is not peace but a prelude to catastrophe. Avoiding war at all costs only guarantees war on the adversary’s terms. There is no neutral path between confrontation and collapse. If we do not confront authoritarian regimes when the initiative is ours, we will be forced to fight them when the initiative is theirs.
Regime change is not a betrayal of America’s values. It is an expression of them. Our nation was born in revolution against tyranny. In the 20th century, we helped dismantle the Nazi regime, rebuild Japan into a democracy, facilitate epic transitions to democracy in the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea and empower anti-communist forces across Asia and Europe. American engagement — military, economic and moral — liberated billions and shaped the modern democratic world. These were not imperialist adventures but investments in a freer world. When guided by clarity of purpose, America’s efforts to change regimes have yielded lasting peace, economic revival and democratic flourishing.
To those who believe America must avoid regime change to preserve peace, the message is simple: The war has already begun, and it is being waged on us. The only question is whether we will fight back intelligently, strategically and morally.
Regime change is not a relic of Cold War dogma. It is a necessity in the face of 21st-century threats. It is a tool of deterrence, a strategy of liberation and a declaration that freedom will not be extinguished by fear or fatigue.
If we do not endeavor to change the regimes that seek to destroy us, then we will be changed silently, slowly and irreversibly. The time for hesitation is over. The time for strategic courage has arrived.