I am Spanish, but I grew up mostly in Asia, lived in the US for almost 40 years, married an American and have American children, who live in the US. We retired to Spain because it is much nicer here than California.
As for my US experience, been there, done that. I worked in the defense-aerospace industry, and then in the energy industry.
This is a funny, mixed up world, and anything real (as in tech and industrial reality) is an international mishmash. And it has been so for a very long time.
The US is providing part of its vast surplus of armament to Ukraine. It is up to the Ukrainians how long they are willing to fight. Given that, originally, at least half of US military equipment was intended to fight Russia in a continental war (and nobody else really) then it seems to me they should have it. Or perhaps a lot should be given to the Balts, Poles, Romanians and Finns, if the US no longer needs it.
I also suggest that the US Army and National Guard should be reduced by at least half, as you no longer want to fight expeditionary wars.
As for US education - that’s been my hobbyhorse for years. But the Republican party and the conservative populace has never taken it seriously, until now. I was a voice in the wilderness.
Thanks for the thoughtful answer. I don’t agree we should reduce the military by half but do think the civil service workers in the government should be. Plus a moratorium on hiring.
You may not know this but in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the little one room school children often got an education by around the 8th grade that was equal to a college education 40 years ago so our education system, whether private or public, has steadily declined in quality and morality. I would not send a kid to school these days. Home schooling is the only way to make sure they get a quality education today.
As usual with our corrupted government, it’s all about power and money. Very sad. Term limits would help but we would also need to rotate the civilian civil service support staff that stays on term after term. I’d say term limits for them too making DC or remote DC support a temporary assignment to last no more than 4-6 years.
Lobbyists are another big problem. This is where the corruption is ingrained and getting worse, never better.