No more tuition assistance

[Grand Wizard]

What is the reason that we have bases all over the place then?

I guess that's the question: Should Americans be defenseless all across the globe?
And what about American embassies? Don't you think they deserve protection and security?

DISCLAIMER:
I admit I helped blow this thread up, so if someone wants to start a new thread for this discussion I'll move to that one.

We have bases all over the world so our armed forces can project power quickly and with overwhelming force if directed to do so. It isn't about protecting individual American citizens or the bureaucrats in the Foreign Service, it is about advancing American national interests.

As far as U.S. embassies and consuls, they are protected by detachments of U.S. Marines. Ask the question, "Do terrorists and/or hostile host governments target Switzerland? Who, if anyone, protects the citizens and embassies of Switzerland?" (hint: It isn't the Swiss Guard; they protect the Pope.)

The real dialogue should be about whether the U.S. has a strategic national interest everywhere in the world, or should we scale back the range of those interests to regions critical to the self-defense of the nation.