It's not about being 'extremely good' at war. It's about being so overwhelmingly dominate, no one challenges you -- ever. Not doing anything (i.e., not develop

It's not about being 'extremely good' at war. It's about being so overwhelmingly dominate, no one challenges you -- ever. Not doing anything (i.e., not developing weapons) will cause the US to slowly lose that footing. And we just need to look at how quickly the PLA(N) has caught up to the USAF/USN (I'm not saying they're an equal, today, but they've come leaps and bounds over 10-20 years ago). > crazy drones So does RU, CN, and Iran. > missiles See above. When it comes to long range air-to-air and hypersonic, the US is lagging. > submarines PLAN is deploying diesel-electric and AIP boats, which can be virtually silent. USN boats are all nuclear powered, which we're good at making them silent, but they'll never be as silent as diesel-electric/AIP. > nukes Should never be deployed. One of the things no one comes close to touching any of the US military branches on is our airlift and logistics. > How much better do you need to be at war? So much better than the other guy, you just need to rattle your sword, not use it. I don't disagree with you about investment into social services, though I feel they're broken not only by funding, but by capitalism itself. I think the other thing we have to remember is that the Military Industrial Complex employs a significant number of workers and even more, if you extend that into all points of State and Federal government that touches the military. Those companies and workers are taxed (maybe). Those taxes cycle back into the system, etc. What kind of system would we have without those millions of workers? No idea. Maybe they'd all be doing something else and my argument would fall flat, which would be great. Military bad? Yes. Military necessary? Probably, unfortunately, until we're no longer tribalistic. If necessity is a requirement, should we be so much better at it than anyone else on the planet that everyone keeps within their own borders? Yes. We can expect China to engage Taiwan within the next 6-8 years. And they're practicing for it. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/mock-attack-on-u-s-navy-vessels-underway-during-chinese-fighters-unsafe-intercept https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/mock-attack-on-u-s-nav... (So is Taiwan) https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/taiwan-extends-mandatory-military-service-due-to-chinese-invasion-threat https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/taiwan-extends-mandato...