Should US Leave NATO ???

Trump has been criticized for his comments about NATO, but is US membership in that organization still a good thing (assuming it ever was)?

There are a number of reasons why Americans should want a Nexit [i.e., exit from NATO].

NATO is obsolete. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the deposing of the communist governments of Eastern Europe, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the disbanding of the Warsaw Pact have rendered NATO obsolete.

NATO is an unnecessary expense. The United States pays nearly three-fourths of NATO’s budget. The countries of Europe are quite capable of paying for their own security, and should be doing so.

NATO is an entangling alliance. It is, in fact, the quintessential entangling alliance warned against by the Founding Fathers. George Washington famously wrote in his Farewell Address, “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” And in his First Inaugural Address, Thomas Jefferson, in describing “the essential principles of our government,” made this notable foreign-policy statement, “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

NATO unadvisedly links the United States with Europe. None other than Jefferson advised against this:

"I am decidedly of opinion we should take no part in European quarrels, but cultivate peace and commerce with all ..."

And:

"I am not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels of Europe, entering that field of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings to war against the principles of liberty."

NATO does not exist for the defense of the United States. It is not like America’s having a treaty with Canada and Mexico to unite in the defense of North America in the event of an attack. The purpose of NATO has always been for the United States to come to the aid of Europe, again. One NATO member country, Iceland, doesn’t even have an army.

NATO is not the best way to defend the United States. The United States has been gifted with a natural national defense of two great oceans. No great power in history has had such favorable geography. Jefferson recognized this: “The insulated state in which nature has placed the American continent, should so far avail it that no spark of war kindled in the other quarters of the globe should be wafted across the wide oceans which separate us from them.” Favorable geography and a Jeffersonian foreign policy of peace, commerce, and neutrality are the best means to defense.

NATO could needlessly cost Americans the lives of their sons and daughters. As a member of NATO, the United States could be drawn into a bloody war over an incident between Russia and Estonia. Many Americans probably don’t know where Estonia is or even that it is a country.

You can read the rest @
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/time-for-a-nexit/

The current main purpose of NATO appears to be saber rattling against Russia. The world would be much safer if Europe and Russia worked together for their mutual benefit and stopped being a US puppet and enemy, respectively.

To paraphrase the Bible (Mark 8:36):

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and cover it with clouds of deadly radioactivity?