I would like someone to explain to me why we still run our military complex like 1945 with bases all over the world. As long as the military budget is “off limits” social security and medicare and medicaid will be protected. Why should we give a damn about protecting the French or the Phillipines? Why don’t we run military bases along the Mexican border? It would seem to me that service men and women spending money in US small businesses from auto dealers to bars and restaurants makes a hell of a lot more sense than supporting a community with a base in Germany.