A US administration that bars journalists from press conferences, attacks the judiciary, rules by decree rather than laws, releases convicts from jail who attacked congress, ignores science, fights inclusion, spreads lies about elections - lectures Europe on democracy and values.
It's not weakness to invest in people rather than the military. That'll likely have to change now, but not because it's good.
The US are better than this.
Time to organise - Europe has 450 million people.
@W_Lucht what I find reassuring in a way is that Vance & T encourage the EU to bolster their military
@jfrantzius
Sure, but except that it seems necessary now, in my view there's nothing good about that. The US are strong militarily only because they are not spending that money on increasing the welfare of their people. Not having affordable health care or retirement is the price Americans pay. To what end?
And that's not even considering how many problems the world has that could be so much better with multilateral cooperation. Dreaming? It's not a bad dream.
@W_Lucht having recently spent quite a lot of time engaging with healthcare and retirement in the US, the stories about not having it are pretty overblown.
Really, it's more that so many in the US choose lifestyles that are harder to stay healthy and retire through.
It's a different set of values. It's a very personal matter what set of values you prefer.
@volkris
I lived 9 years of my life in the US and witnessed it. Health care is a big financial worry for many people. Often retirees have to continue working to make ends meet. None of that is as true in our European welfare states. Americans who move to Europe are regularly astounded.