I know perspectives and viewpoints on this differ across the ideological spectrum but I've always been baffled that there are people who seem to truly believe that the United States is somehow getting shafted by NATO. NATO has been, IMO, perhaps the single most positively influential alliance in the history of the world that has directly enabled the last century or so since World War II to be the most peaceful, most prosperous, and safest era in human history. And the United States, as the de facto leader of NATO and the free world, has directly benefited in ways that are completely incalculable. Not only has the alliance prevented widespread global conflict from breaking out, but it has enabled the U.S. to become the world's premier economic superpower by ensuring stability in Europe, by facilitating safe transatlantic trade routes, by driving demand and a market for American defense technology, and by preventing regional conflicts that could disrupt the European market which is our largest trading partner.
As such, as an American, I feel like we are getting a phenomenal return on our investment in NATO. I am baffled that there are people who think that we are getting the short end of the stick. To me, it's a very elementary and infantile way of looking at the world, to feel that because the U.S. provides a disproportionate share of NATO's total defense spending, that other countries are "taking advantage of us." We contribute only about 16% of NATO's direct annual operating budget, which is roughly equal to Germany, but the perceived disproportion arises from the U.S. having a significantly larger overall defense budget than any of our European allies. That large defense budget, though, is used for global obligations beyond NATO’s collective defense.
I liken it to my own status as someone who gets disproportionately hammered by income taxes as a dual-W2 high income earner. I pay a lot more proportionately in taxes than people who are both infinitely wealthier than I am and people who earn significantly less than I do. But I see it as a blessing, not a curse, to be taxed and to have those tax dollars utilized to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of others. It's a great problem to have. Similarly, I see NATO as a great "problem" for the United States to have, as it has helped ensure the the America (and the world) in which I've grown up has been safer, more secure, and more prosperous than it otherwise would have been. And if the "price" to pay is that we spend more money than our peers, to me that seems like one of the best returns on investment that we could possibly have.
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