What's this fixation your ridiculous country has for the military, flag-waving and self-aggrandizement?
Without the pre-Trump variety of "military, flag-waving...." life in U.S. cities, especially Bill of Rights protected speech, assembly, journalism, and due process of the courts, would be much more similar to life in Moscow, Shanghai, or Hong Kong.
IOW, where do you suppose the U.S., its four other "Five Eyes" allies, Taiwan, and more generally, routine passage of ships in the world's oceans be, if not for the presence and operations of the U.S. Navy or the presence in Europe and abilities of U.S. ground forces? "Showing the flag" is a deterrent to, for example, Putin increasing Russia's "land grab" of a portion of Ukraine the size of the state of Texas.
Would Germany be an independent, reunited, economic power house? What level of independence would be experienced today in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and other former captive countries of the former Soviet Bloc?
The U.S. is unique and is burdened by the national debt rung up partially from the cost of offsetting the declining commitment of the UK's Commonwealth and Japan and Germany to commit the funding required to adequately defend themselves.
https://twitter.com/philewing/status/1011779124292214785
Failure to Provide U.K. Royal Navy Escorts for New Carriers is ‘Potentially Dangerous,’ Warn Lawmakers
By: Jon Rosamond
June 25, 2018 6:27 PM
......
Less than 40 years ago, PM Thatcher was able to order a sizable force to cross the Atlantic to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina.
Would you really prefer to state, in the same week China's Xi broke the 1997 Hong Kong treaty with the UK and Putin set himself up as president of Russia until 2036, for the U.S. to reduce its militarism more to a level of your liking? Turn your criticism to aggressor countries with territorial grabbing ambitions, such as Israel.
The U.S. electorate certainly must be manipulated to continue to weigh down its grandchildren with heavy debt burden. I don't recall Obama hyper-militarizing domestic holidays or response to protestors in the manner recently perfected by Benedict Bonespurs.
