Should Europe Provide Its Own Military?
by John Lawrence
Trump has said that the US is a sucker to provide military protection for Europe at our own expense. He wants Europe to pay for its own defense. That could mean an European army as French President Macron has suggested. Or that could mean payments to the US to provide protection similar to the way the Pope pays the Swiss guards for protection. So what's wrong with this idea? The US could cut its defense budget by a third at least if Europe provided for its own protection. After all they are the main ones being protected by NATO. You wouldn't need NATO any more. All you would need is an alliance of some sort.
But the US military-industrial complex is not going along with this idea because, first of all, they would be losing a lot of money. Secondly, they would be losing a lot of money. Those huge defense contracts, which keep the US economy humming and provide jobs at all levels, would go away. However, if the money was spent instead for peaceful purposes like building infrastructure, there is no need for the jobs to go away. They would just take a different form. Lockheed Martin would just pivot from being a defense contractor to being a peace contractor. The peace-industrial complex would take the place of the military-industrial complex. Instead of all the folks in the military bearing arms, they would be bearing shovels. It might not be as sexy as firing off rounds, but it would provide for the defense of the country in another way. Instead of a third class infrastructure, the US would regain once again a first class infrastructure.
