The American military has been the guarantor of world peace since World War II.

Despite talk of the evils of American militarism, the reality is that World War III has been prevented by American hegemony.

No country would take on the United States directly, and no alliance could form sufficient to take on the United States and its allies

directly. Furthermore, global prosperity is a direct result of American military predominance.

Freedom of commerce is the first precondition to international prosperity, all of which means

the world runs thanks to American gunpower. It has since the decline of the British Empire.

And now America's military is in trouble. Serious trouble.

In particular, there are five problems facing America's military.

1. International dependency.

In the aftermath of World War II, the United States was forced, by circumstance, to assume the role of the world's policemen.

It wasn't our choice, it was just reality.

Every other major state on the world stage had been devastated by World War II.

We were the last ones left standing.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was rising in the east, and the West required protection, so the

United States filled the breach.

The U.S. paid a disproportionate share of the military budget of the world because the U.S.

represented, by far, the largest share of the world economy.

GDP is a rough statistic, but the United States represented some one-third of all global GDP

as of 1985.

Today, that share is down to 25 percent or so. Yet the U.S.

military spending represents approximately 40% of all global military spending. International

dependency on American military might can lead to a vicious cycle. When the American economy

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