It is a curious contradiction that Europe wishes to be seen as an equal, if not a superior partner to the United States, yet consistently recoils when presented with the burdens that true parity requires. Nowhere is this clearer than in the question of NATO. The alliance remains, without question, the most important bulwark against the rising ambitions of Russia, which forever alternates between waging war planning the next war, and China, which manipulates markets and amasses global influence with all the subtlety of a marching band at a funeral. These forces seek not merely to challenge American leadership but to overturn the global order that has preserved peace in the West for nearly a century, and provided the United States with its unmatched prosperity. To counter these threats, NATO must remain strong, and that means that America must not recede from the global stage. But it also means Europe must finally ascend.
Reagan preached peace through strength, and it has been the rallying cry of conservatives for generations, primarily because it works. No nation ever became better by becoming weaker. But strength alone is not as great as combined strength with other. That’s why we create alliances, the most important of which remains NATO — our greatest strategic asset — which itself is strongest when European nations take their defense obligations seriously, both in terms of military commitment and financial investment. It is weakest when these nations defer responsibility to the United States, treating American taxpayers as an inexhaustible font of military welfare. For decades, the United States has shouldered a massively disproportionate burden, providing the bulk of troops, munitions, and funding, while European nations shirk their obligations under the comforting illusion that America will always pick up the tab. This is not an alliance in any meaningful sense of the word. It is a dependency masquerading as partnership.
One might even argue that the very reason the European Union is so enfeebled, both militarily and economically, is precisely because it has relied on the United States to do what it ought to have been doing for itself all along. By providing for European security at such an overwhelming scale, America has inadvertently stunted Europe’s own growth in this arena. The EU has no incentive to build robust militaries, no incentive to maintain the economic strength necessary to finance such forces, and, consequently, no incentive to act as anything other than a supplicant when crises arise.
And yet, for all this, European leaders insist on the trappings of equality. They wish to be seen as America’s peers, if not its superiors, except, of course, when it comes to the matter of shouldering burdens. They disdain American hegemony, except when they need American power to enforce their own preferred outcomes. They chafe at American influence, except when they require American intervention to rescue them from their own failures.
The European Union was never meant to be a perpetual protectorate of the United States. It was envisioned as a robust, integrated superpower, capable of standing on its own economically, politically, and militarily. Yet it has instead opted for a posture of chronic dependency, all while demanding the deference of an equal. This contradiction is as unsustainable as it is insufferable.
If the transatlantic alliance is to survive and thrive – indeed, if Western values are to survive and thrive — all parties must recommit to it in a meaningful way. For the United States, that means recognizing NATO as indispensable to its own strategic interests, and retaining the leadership role that requires. And for Europe, that means assuming the responsibilities that true allies must bear: investing in their own defense, contributing fairly to the collective security of the West, and engaging in trade agreements with allies that reflect a spirit of mutual benefit rather than quiet exploitation.
Friendship among nations should not be predicated on one party endlessly indulging the whims and demands of another. If NATO is to endure as a true alliance, then its members must act as true allies—committed, capable, and willing to share both the burdens and the benefits of collective security. Anything less is not an alliance but a farce, and one that endangers both sides.
