The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 with three clear strategic objectives:
- Keep the Soviets out
- Keep the Americans in
- Keep the Germans down — preventing German re-militarization outside a controlled alliance
That world no longer exists.
The Soviet Union collapsed more than three decades ago. The Warsaw Pact lost its relevance with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and formally dissolved in 1991. NATO’s original counterbalance vanished, along with its primary reason for existing.
As for keeping Americans in, Europe appears increasingly determined to push the United States away. Despite the fact that U.S. defense spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of NATO’s combined military budget, Britain and several European partners have openly challenged America’s strategic interests — including its position on Greenland.
No fair-minded observer can credibly argue that Denmark is capable of preventing Russian or Chinese attempts to gain a foothold in the Arctic via Greenland. Denmark lacks both the economic weight and the military capacity to defend the territory effectively, let alone organize a sustained naval blockade or maintain a permanent, combat-ready presence.
At the same time, European Union leaders warn relentlessly of Russian expansionism. The United States has sought to counter those ambitions by strengthening its strategic posture in the Arctic, including the potential acquisition of Greenland. The deterrent effect of American military power alone would be sufficient to discourage both Russian and Chinese designs in the region — precisely the outcome Europe claims to desire. Yet European governments have done everything in their power to obstruct any such arrangement between the United States and Denmark.
The third pillar of NATO’s original mission — restraining Germany — has also collapsed. Germany met NATO’s 2 percent defense-spending target in 2024 for the first time since reunification. More tellingly, Berlin plans to accelerate its rearmament, increasing defense spending from approximately 2.4 percent of GDP in 2025 to an estimated 3.5 percent by 2029. Europe now appears comfortable with Germany once again becoming the continent’s dominant military power.
Beyond strategy and budgets, however, there is a deeper philosophical divide that can no longer be ignored.
Much of Europe, including the United Kingdom, no longer shares America’s understanding of individual liberty. In England, displays of national pride — including flying the national flag — have been treated by political leaders as suspect or even equated with hate. Across the continent, runaway legal and illegal immigration is rapidly reshaping national cultures, while governments increasingly embrace a collectivist worldview that treats rights not as inherent, but as privileges granted and withdrawn by the state.
These are not the values the United States pledged to defend in 1949.
The world has changed, and NATO has not changed with it. The conditions that justified its creation no longer exist.
Meanwhile, the United States is approaching $40 trillion in national debt. Maintaining an open-ended, post-World War II military commitment to Europe is no longer sustainable — nor is it justified. What, exactly, are we defending there today? It is certainly not free speech, property rights, or the classical liberal traditions that once bound the Atlantic world together.
It is time for Europe to take responsibility for its own defense.
The United States should instead return to the logic of the Monroe Doctrine: securing unquestioned territorial hegemony in the Western Hemisphere while rebuilding American economic and military strength at home. Europe must be allowed to determine its own destiny, just as America must prioritize its own.
As we move deeper into the 21st century, the path forward is clear: let Europe stand on its own, and let America focus on building a secure, prosperous, and sovereign future — a modern Fortress America prepared for the challenges ahead.
