Thank you for your taxes.
Alfred Thayer Mahan is dead but his ghost still inhabits the Straits of Malacca and other Sea Lanes of Communication. You are correct that it isn't the 1890s: now even squirrelly little hellholes like North Korea and Iran can threaten to kill millions of us within a half hour and short of direct invasion, we can't do anything except try to beat them technologically and hope for the best.
We aren't bankrupted and we are still independent and alive. Costs money to get that done. You and others on this thread believe that our leaders are doing it wastefully. OK, fine: get into the fray and see if you can do it better - but a world-spanning militarized China is a serious threat. They and other dictatorships can't exist in a world where a free country gives the better example - so they prepare to defeat us. Open your eyes and watch. What are the Chinese doing with a naval base in Djibouti, within striking range of the Persian Gulf?
Isolationism and massive welfare programs (I assume that you're a liberal) seem awfully attractive but it's too late for that anymore.
P.S.; it's the "E-Ring" of the Pentagon.
The ChinComs are not stealing 55% of my income. Gov’t employees in my country are doing the stealing.
If what you guys do is so important and valuable - why do you need to steal the money via involuntary taxes ?