“The free world as a free ride” – why not, look what we do here

From NRO (and Mark Steyn!):

The free world as a free ride   [Mark Steyn]

Der Spiegel‘s interview with Henry Kissinger is full of interesting nuggets, almost all of them variations on the same theme:

The major events in European history were conducted by nation-states which developed over several hundred years. There was never a question in the mind of European populations that the state was authorized to ask for sacrifices and that the citizens had a duty to carry it out. Now the structure of the nation-state has been given up to some considerable extent in Europe. And the capacity of governments to ask for sacrifices has diminished correspondingly. 

The world’s wealthiest democracies instead slide the bill across to Washington. The sheer unreality of modern "Europe" has been obscured by the willingness of America to do all the heavy lifting:

I think it is obvious that the United States cannot permanently do all the fighting for Western interests by itself… In the long run, we cannot have two categories of members in the NATO alliance: those that are willing to fight and others that are trying to be members à la carte.

Why the heck not?  Look what we’ve done here – 50% of our citizens effectively  (<4%) effectively do not pay for their own government.  The precedent has been set, and I believe with horrible results in the future.

As with the nations of Europe, who are in the process of giving up on themselves as nation-states, why would our citizens want to sacrifice for this country when they have no "skinny in the game"? When it comes down to brass tacks, those that have not sacrificed for the country may not, well, sacrifice for the country.

I agree with Mark Steyn – the unwillingness of the illiberal Western Liberals have gone a long way to sapping the strength of their respective countries.  Soon, we may see the phrase "You don’t miss what you have until it is gone" right at the tip of our noses…