While Americans debate whether we can “afford” things like infrastructure repairs or healthcare reforms, China has spent the last several decades building at a pace that staggers the imagination. The difference? China hasn’t fought a war since a brief one-month border conflict with Vietnam in 1979.
The Cost of Perpetual Warfare
The United States has spent over $8 trillion on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and related theater operations since 2001. That’s roughly $25,000 for every man, woman, and child in America—money that literally went up in smoke or into the pockets of defense contractors rather than building anything lasting for the American people.
This isn’t a new pattern. Since World War II, America has been in an almost constant state of war or military engagement—Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and countless covert operations. Each draining our treasury and focusing our industrial capacity on machines of destruction rather than construction.
What China Built Instead
During this same period, China has been building:
- Over 25,000 miles of high-speed rail connecting their entire nation
- New cities, universities, and research centers
- Ports, bridges, and dams on a scale that dwarfs most countries’ capabilities
- Energy infrastructure (both renewable and traditional)
- Economic partnerships across Asia, Africa, and beyond
As Thomas Jefferson warned: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” He didn’t say it needed constant watering on foreign soil for corporate interests.
Not About Praising Authoritarianism
This observation isn’t about praising China’s political system or human rights record, which deserves vigorous criticism. Rather, it’s about questioning America’s priorities and the opportunity cost of endless warfare.
What might America look like today if we’d spent even half of our military budget on domestic infrastructure? We might have:
- A high-speed rail network connecting our major cities
- Modernized electrical grids and water systems
- World-class public education and research facilities
- Debt reduction and fiscal stability
Breaking the Warfare Addiction
The military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about has morphed into a self-perpetuating machine that requires constant conflict to justify its existence. Each administration, regardless of party, finds new enemies and threats to neutralize.
Breaking this cycle requires Americans to question the narrative that our safety depends on military adventurism across the globe. It requires us to calculate not just the direct costs of war but the immense opportunity costs—all the things we could have built instead.
As James Madison wrote: “Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
What freedoms—and what possibilities—have we sacrificed on the altar of perpetual war?