Just as an aside, the US defence budget is actually not the US governments' biggest expense. Also, humanity is always going to spend a good whack of money on d

Just as an aside, the US defence budget is actually not the US governments' biggest expense. Also, humanity is always going to spend a good whack of money on defence - it's just the cost of running a civilization. Lawful behavior is what keeps us on an upward trajectory, and laws are backed up by guns. If Ukraine had nukes, there'd be no invasion. If France invaded Germany right after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, there'd be no WW2. If the Allies didn't invade Nazi Europe, Hitler's son/grandson would be ruling that continent, and possibly a couple of other ones as well. I fully agree on your point regarding big, valuable projects though.