US spends so much on military because other countries essentially outsource their own military to the US. For example, the EU spends very little on military in large part because of a large US military presence in Europe.
You could just as well double the EU's relative share by halving the US military budget. The US would still spend more than China, Russia, and a bunch of other countries combined. Surely that's more than enough.
It's just that US politicians always frame it as if the total spending had.to remain constant.
You dont need to be a direct military competitor, Afghanistan and Iraq have shown that you can still defeat US with a thousand cuts.
George Bush in 2003 had the Mission Accomplished banner, if the mission was accomplished, what are US soldiers still doing in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Which means the US had to do all the expensive logistics work too.
At the expense of US soldiers dying from the hands of AL Qaeda/ISIS and wasting trillions of dollars which could have been used to rebuild US infra and providing healthcare and other services to US citizens.
Didn't the US lose by that definition?
No one is saying US does not have that monopoly, its just that US still loses with that monopoly.