Oh, it gets better. Many of our allies have so little military spending precisely because of our military bases on their territory, and our resulting ability to

Oh, it gets better. Many of our allies have so little military spending precisely because of our military bases on their territory, and our resulting ability to respond to threats with the same speed as their own military. So in some ways, we are, for better or worse, the world's policeman. And if we downsized our military, those nations would need to step theirs up (with accompanying spending increases on their end). Which makes me wonder if the U.S. is getting paid enough for our military services to those allies.