-—....our “ONE MAN, ONE VOTE” system has destroyed us....——
But as she points out, what’s primarily busting the budget is SSN, Medicaid, Medicare, and defending Europe. Taxpayers are generally in favor of these programs.
We don't. We have bases there, but very few troops. We have only two active Air Force bases in Germany. Both support US operations in the Middle East. They don't defend Germany or Europe, one is strictly transports, the other has F-16s and A/OA-10s. All told we have about 75,000 to 80,000 soldiers, airman, sailors and Marines in all of Europe. Only a few hundred are Marines, 8,000 are Navy, 25,000 are Air Force, the rest Army.
In comparison the British alone have 227,160 active duty personnel with another 174,000 or so in the regular reserve. The Germans have about 207,247 active and 200,000 reserve. The French have 251,750 active (includes civilian support) 70,000 reserve. Even Belgium has 47,000, with 100,000 in reserve. Italy has 319,529, including 109,000 paramilitary, and 31,000 civilians, plus around 42,000 reserve. Some of the former Soviet block countries also have significant forces. Poland 100,00 active, 200,000 reserve. Bulgaria 27,000 active, 302,000 reserve. Switzerland can put around 200,000 in the field on a day's notice. All those represent numbers considerably reduced from Cold War era levels.