Military Base Realignment and Closure

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The United States is easily the most powerful country in the history of the world. Not only that, but the global influence of the U.S. cannot be overstated. Rife with worldwide conflict, the 20th century saw the rise of the U.S. as a global superpower — and global peacekeeper.

Today, the United States operates more foreign military bases than any other country on the planet. The U.S. also spends more on their military than the next eight nations combined. And a large part of this money goes to keeping these military bases up-and-running. The U.S. has around 800 military bases around the world, more than any other country. In fact, combining the foreign bases that every other nation has outside its own borders would only add up to around 30 bases.

Many of these bases opened after World War II, with the U.S. exerting its newfound global influence to keep the world in peace. Adding to this, the Cold War made a strong global presence crucial to U.S. strategic goals.

Now, even with the major crises of the 20th century over, the United States still holds massive amounts of troops on foreign soil. Taxpayers are paying highly for these decisions. Keeping these 800 foreign bases open costs taxpayers between 70 and 100 billion dollars per year, more than any other government agency receives, including agencies such as the Department of Education.

Lawmakers and taxpayers should carefully weigh the benefits of keeping so much money out of our economy, and into other nations on the far corners of the globe.

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To tackle the topic I will create a remixed video as well as an original infographic. The remix will be a good platform to show video from the U.S. bases, as well as giving the option of showing text on-screen with facts. A voiceover might be a good touch as well. I will use some artwork from the infographic in the remixed video to give the website a cohesive feel.

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