> I’ll probably get downvoted for this, but a strong argument can be made that the European welfare state has only been made possible due to massive US defense subsidies and economic stimulus during the post WWII/Cold War. This doesn’t mean that the US has a good excuse for relatively poor domestic social services vis a vi many European states, but let’s also be real about what allows Germany, France, etc to provide “free” healthcare and other social subsidies.

> In the particular case of Germany, defense spending is only 1.2% (this stat is easily found via google). I’d rather have Pax Americana (which arguably is in decline) over the past 70 years providing stability in Europe, helping to lift hundreds of millions of East Asians out of agrarian subsistence, etc than slightly cheaper healthcare. Although, tell that fact to someone who receives huge, opaque medical bills for simple procedures in the US and they probably wouldn’t take too kindly to that line of reasoning...

I may be misunderstanding your point, but are you attributing European stability to American military power?