Another Reason Our Allies Must Accept More Military Responsibility

When one doesn't have to pay the bill, it is easy to be oblivious to the cost and sacrifices of others. This has been a burgeoning problem with respect to the monetary and human costs of the United States for being largely responsible for providing for the defense of our allies since World War II.

Initially, this was an appropriate role for the U.S. to play. Europe and Japan were physically devastated after the War and necessarily their focus was on rebuilding their countries with U.S. assistance. The U.S. was also concerned about the re-arming of our former enemies, Japan and West Germany. The U.S.S.R. was a threat that only the U.S. could thwart in the aftermath of the War.

But much has happened in the 65 years since then. Japan now has the world's second largest economy and Germany ranks third. Europe has restored itself and largely prospered and flourished while the Soviet Union crumbled. None of this would have been possible without the strong and reliable support of the U.S. But, although time has marched on, Europe has still now assume its fair share for the defense of themselves and the West, nor have they shouldered the cost of the U.S. defense presence on their soil. Whereas this once made sense, it no longer does anymore.

Additionally, the lack of Japan and European contributions to their own defense has been largely taken for granted because the U.S. was primarily footing the bill. And therein lies the rub. Our allies have continued to benefit from the U.S. expenditures on defense so as to be immunized from the true cost of their own freedom and liberty. Perhaps if our allies bore their share of the defense burden, they would have to make tough choices about their own priorities, which for too long they have shunted away.

Leave Japan to Its Own Defenses

Why does the U.S. still have 50,000 troops in Japan more than almost 65 years after the end of World War II? And what are they doing there when the Japanese public in Okinawa doesn't even want them there?

The U.S. has a deeply-rooted superiority complex or, dare I say, an imperialist complex that no longer makes sense at this time in history. It was logical after WWII that the U.S. would maintain a presence in Japan to ensure that our former enemy did not re-arm itself and as a buffer to the Soviet Union. But that time has past. Japan is a steadfast ally of the U.S., it has the world's second largest economy and the U.S.S.R is a relic of its former self. Yet, the U.S. persists in the notion that we are the policemen of the world. We can no longer afford this indulgence

If Japan is able to provide for its own defense, then it should do so. If not, it should bear all of the costs of the U.S. presence there if it wants us to remain. The U.S. has borne the brunt of the defense costs of the Westernized world since the Great War. We have spent trillions more in gross dollars and also as a percentage of our GDP than any of our Western allies. This kind of thinking and pattern of behavior must stop if for no other reason than we cannot afford it when our allies are not even paying anywhere near their fair share.

Europe, consistent with all of its socialist tendencies, has become too dependent on the U.S. to act as its de facto "war" army and has not shouldered, economically or in manpower or other resources, its burden of the responsibility for its own defense. We must reverse this course not only for our own legitimate fiscal and political reasons but also to encourage our European and Asian allies to start standing on their own feet to a much greater extent militarily.